Mariages! (2004)
Directed by Valérie Guignabodet

Film Review

Valérie Guignabodet's follow up to her debut feature, the quirky comedy Monique (2002), is this fairly anodyne rom-com which takes a characteristically Gallic view of the pros and cons (mostly the cons) of marital life in our increasingly unromantic age. Whilst it is mildly entertaining in parts, Mariages! has weaknesses on both the directing and writing fronts that prevent it from being as entertaining and satisfying as Guignabodet's previous, far more inspired comedy. With its shallow characterisation and somewhat forced comic interludes, the film occasionally resembles a crude attempt at mimicking an American sitcom.  The film boasts an attractive cast which includes established performers such as Miou-Miou, Mathilde Seigner and Didier Bezace as well as rising star Jean Dujardin (soon to get his big break as agent OSS 117 in OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions (2006)) - this likeable ensemble succeeds in making something of the generally lacklustre script and give great entertainment value.  Something that is hard to forgive is the stomach-churningly sentimental ending (think Jane Austen on a bad day), which jars painfully with the film's fairly realistic, albeit somewhat sarcastic, view of matrimony. After her horse-themed drama Danse avec lui (2007) Guignabodet returned with the inevitable follow-up Divorces! (2009),

Film Synopsis

At 25, Johanna and Benjamin have decided that they must forgo the delights of bachelorhood and begin a new life together, one that promises a lifetime of unalloyed marital bliss.  Ten years older, Benjamin's best friend Alex has arrived at the conclusion that marriage is not all it is cracked up to be.  His wife Valentine has been having a torrid extramarital affair with Hugo (an ageing lethario who happens to be Johanna's uncle) and it looks as if an acrimonious divorce is the only sensible (and legal) course of action.  One the day that Johanna that Benjamin decide to get spliced for better or for worse the former's mother Gabrielle makes a determined effort to patch things up with her former husband Pierre, ten years after their separation.  Marriage isn't quite as straightforward as Johanna and Benjamin had hoped.  Far from being a passport to happiness it may well turn out to be the beginning of a long round of feuds, disappointments and regrets...