Kennedy et moi (1999)
Directed by Sam Karmann

Film Review

This unusual comedy-drama, about an everyman-type trying (and failing) to cope with the male menopause is the first full-length film from actor-turned-director Sam Karmann. The film is adapted from a novel of the same title by Jean-Paul Dubois, first published in 1996, and follows Karmann's acclaimed 1992 short film, Omnibus, which won both the Palme d'or at Cannes and an Oscar. Taking the lead roles are Jean-Pierre Bacri, alongside whom Karmann had appeared in both the stage and film versions of Bacri's play Cuisine et dépendances, and Nicole Garcia, an actress who had recently begun to make a name for herself as a director with such films as Place Vendôme (1998). Bacri is well-suited for the lead-role, having effectively made a career of playing depressed and/or neurotic middle-aged man.

Kennedy et moi is an engaging film that tackles the subject of depression and ennui with a sense of irony and a welcome dose of political incorrectness. It is a thoughtful reflection on modern life, with situations that alternately shift between the realistic and the frankly bizarre, with no apparent loss of continuity. There have been so many films recently, particularly in French cinema, which mull over similar themes, and it's not clear that this film has much more to say on the subject of mid-life crisis. However, Karmann's cinematic style is refreshingly innovative - sombre but not grim, elevated above the mundane by its downbeat comic embellishments. Jean-Pierre Bacri's tragicomic portrayal of a man who is losing his grip on reality certainly makes this a film worth seeing.

Film Synopsis

Simon Polaris is going through the mother of mid-life crises. Despite being comfortably married with two children and a successful career as a writer, the 48-year-old has arrived at an impasse in his life. Afflicted with a severe case of writer's block he can no longer work. His teenage children are driving him out of his mind, and it hardly matters to him that his wife has embarked on an extra-marital affair with his doctor. To put it simply, Simon has reached the end of his tether. Not really caring whether he lives or dies or ends up in a lunatic asylum, he begins consulting a psychiatrist. The latter is a strange man who continually clasps a watch in his trouser pocket. Simon is surprised to learn that the watch originally belonged to the U.S. president John F. Kennedy, and was on his person when he was assassinated in 1963. From this moment, Simon becomes obsessed with the watch and its ill-fated owner...