PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES/COEURS - pretentious wank

PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES is directed by the giant of French cinema, Alain Resnais and based on the play by acclaimed English author Alan Aychbourn. It is photographed by Eric Gautier, the respected DP who brought us GABRIELLE and THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES. It is acted by a superb cast comprising Sabine Azéma, Lambert Wilson, André Dussollier, Pierre Arditi, Laura Morante and Isabelle Carré.

All this means that I approach the film with much respect for all concerned. It does not, however, preclude me from damning it as pretentious, tedious, over-worked, heavy-handed, deliberately oblique, wank. Seriously. There is nothing new here. No insights into contemporary human loneliness and relationships. Nothing.

The film/play is based on six people and uses the over-familiar structure wherein everyone is linked to everyone else. Andre Dussolier plays an ageing estate agent who is showing Laura Morante's character around apartments. She is frustrated with the choices, though we later find that this reflects her frustration with her lazy fiance, played by Lambert Wilson. He spends his time drinking in a bar managed by Pierre Arditi instead of looking for a job. Arditi tells him to ditch his fiancee and find a new woman. So he hooks up with a pretty young blonde played by Sabine Azema. She has low self-esteem due to being constantly let down by dates. She lives with her (incredibly) much older brother, played by Andre Dussolier. And Dussolier's colleague, played by Isabelle Carre, completes the circle. She plays a fiercely religious woman who gives Dussolier's character videos of "Songs of Praise" type shows, that are actually taped over tantalising home-made porn videos! Oh yes, and she works part time as a carer for Pierre Arditi's character's father.

The only reason I stayed in the cinema was to see how they resolved by the religious woman/porn star segment. They basically didn't. What we did get was some heavy-handed imagery. Oh, the characters are so isolated and emotionally cold that when they speak it snows INSIDE the house. Ah, so poetic! Unbelievable.

PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES/COEURS played Venice 2006 where it (unbelievably) won Best Director and Best Actress for Laura Morante. It has already opened in France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, the US, Greece, Israel, Brazil and the UK. It opens in Argentina on August 2nd.

MOLIERE In Love? Don't flatter yourself.

Writer-directer Laurent Tirard delivers a tedious, witless costume drama, marketed in the UK as Molière In Love. It is an unfortunate comparison to make. I am no fan of the lead performances in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE but you simply have to admire its energy, beautiful production design and witty, intelligent, multi-faceted script. MOLIERE is rather thin gruel by comparison.

The immensely talented Romain Duris plays the impecunious playwright-actor. He is recruited by a wealthy social climber called M. Jourdain (Fabrice Luchini) to help him woo the imperious Marquise Célimène (Ludivine Sagnier). In order to keep this liason secret from Madame Jourdaine (Laura Morante), Molière adopts the role of a pious priest named Tartuffe. Molière and Madame Jourdain begin an affair and also try to protect Mlle. Jourdain from a loveless marriage to the son of a scheming bankrupt Marquis (Edouard Baer).

Those who know Molière's plays will see embryonic characters and scenes played out and take some delight in the fictional "what ifs?" And there is a lot of fun to be had watching Edouard Baer and Fabrice Luchini play the roles of nincompoop social climber and lecherous Marquis. It is, while attenuated by a flabby script, the germinal joy of watching Molière's plays!

Everything else is a bit of a disappointment. The production is lavish but has none of the grit, grime and attention to detail seen in BBC productions. Where are Shakespeare's inky fingers? And could they not have produced a more convincing wig for Romain Duris? The pacing is way off. The first hour of the movie could be radically condensed for a start. There is no social or political context - the stuff that distracted from the saccharine in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. Admittedly, the action takes place in a country estate rather than in a bustling capital city so there is less opportunity to show wider society. Still, one suspects a writer of Stoppard's talent would have made more of the pedestrian surroundings. And as for the final scene, presumably it was meant to cause violent emotion in the viewer. I found it hackneyed.

MOLIERE was released earlier this year in Belgium, France, Greece, Israel and Lithuania. It is currently on release in the UK. It opens in Hungary, Russia and the US on July 26th. It opens in the Netherlands and Argentina in August and in Australia on Boxing Day 2007.

ORCHESTRA SEATS/FAUTEUILS D'ORCHESTRE - charming date movie

ORCHESTRA SEATS is on-paper a pretty mediocre romantic-drama/comedy written and directed by Danièle Thompson. But is has a low-key charm and optimism that I find hard to resist.

Technically this is very workman-like project: there won't be any prizes for camera-work or editing. In fact, they are downright poor. Similarly, the plot is full of incredible coincidences and the whole movie is an extended meet-cute.

Essentially, we have three people who have achieved, but are to some extent dissatisfied with, worldly success. All three have a big night taking place around a local Paris brasserie. Valérie Lemercier plays Catherine Versen - a foul-mouthed but hysterically funny daytime TV star, opening in a theatre production and desperately wanting a serious film break from an American producer played by Sydney Pollack. Albert Dupontel plays Jean-François Lefort, a celebrated concert pianist who is desperate to get out of the concert circuit and begin a more humble life. He is petrified that his wife, Valentine (Laura Morante) won't make the move with him. Meanwhile, Claude Brasseur plays the old widower, Jacques Grumberg. On the same night as Catherine's theatre opening and Jean-François' concert, Jacques is auctioning off the art-collection he spent years amassing with his wife. Jacques is also dating a younger woman (Annelise Hesme, best known to Brits as the girl in the Renault ads), much to his son, Fred's, chagrin.

What unites these people is their patronage of the local cafe, where a young girl from the country is a waitress. Jessica (Cécile de France) has a naive innocence that brings out the best in all concerned and forces the requisite happy ending, not least for Fred (the not unattractive Christopher Thompson.)

As I said, a lot of the plotting of this movie is pretty hokey but as a nice meditation on life and love it has a quiet charm that is exactly opposite to the forced sentimentality of most Hollywood romantic-comedies. This isn't a movie to seek-out, but if you're looking for a less crass date movie, it'll fit the bill.

ORCHESTRA SEATS opened in France, Belgium, Israel, italy, Greece, Germany, Canada and Brazil in 2006. It opened in the US last Friday and opens in the UK next Friday. I topens in Argentina on March 29th and in Australia on April 12th.