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Credits
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Summary
A solitary 32 year-old banker, Benoît replies to a lonely hearts ad and meets the
woman of his life, Marie. They fall in love and marry and, for a while, enjoy a
perfect marriage. Then Benoît’s best friend, Pierre, realises that he too
is in love with Marie…
Review
This is an engaging film which tackles the love triangle theme with surprising depth and
originality. In some ways, Love etc is a light-weight version of Truffaut’s Jules
et Jim, but nonetheless achieves great emotional impact, though the ending is more
melancholic than tragic.
The three central characters of the film are excellently well played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal and Charles Berling. At first, it looks as if Berling is only present to add a nice comic touch to an otherwise dry romance. However, as the film develops, and his character’s role in the film becomes clearer, we are afforded a moving performance from one of France’s best actors today. Charlotte Gainsbourg is equally impressive and one really can sense her character’s dilemma in a hopeless situation. It is probably Yvan Attal who has the greatest impact, though. This is clearly his film, and he manages to bring real depth and credibility to the character of Benoît, the sympathetic loser who manages to eat cat-food when he realises he is in love. The film’s title is very appropriate. This is a film primarily about love, in its various shades and colours. There is the love between the two inseparable friends, Pierre and Benoît, which seems capable of enduring any crisis. Marie and Benoît seem to experience two kinds of love – at first, the obvious, physical love, but then something much more subtle. Marie has clearly fallen out of love with Benoît long before he realises it, but something still keeps them together. It is Benoît that has to tear up the marriage – not Marie, not Pierre – and he probably does so, ultimately, because of his own love for both Marie and Pierre. Although the film does take a while to build and does start out with a touch of sentimentality, the last half of the film more than makes up for that. This is an honest and explicit depiction of relationships, of friendship and love, and as such should strike a chord with anyone. © James Travers 2001 Write a review for this film... |
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