SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

morrison-dylan-fan Despite a family friend praising his work for years,I for some reason have never got round to seeing a title from auteur film maker François Ozon.Getting the honour to be "president" for a festival being held on IMDb's Film Festival board,I noticed that one of the movies up for consideration was by Ozon.Deciding to take a roll of the dice and see if any Ozon flicks were on Netflix UK,I was delighted to spot the title from the Festival board on the site!,which led to me getting ready to meet Ozon's new girlfriend.The plot:Since crossing paths in childhood Claire & Laura have been close friends,with both of them being supportive of each other as Laura gets married to Gilles and Claire ties the knot with David. Becoming pregnant,Laura gives Claire the title of God Mother for her child. Appearing to have life all set,Claire is left heartbroken,when Laura dies from a sudden illness. Promising Laura that she would always take care of her daughter,Claire goes to help David with the baby and is taken aback,when she finds David dressed as Laura.View on the film:Undressing David's life with the death of Laura,auteur writer/director François Ozon & cinematographer Pascal Marti give Melodrama chic a quirky twist,with Ozon and Marti closely working with art director Pascal Leguellec to give David some old-school Hollywood glamour,beaming from the walls being sprayed with primary colours,to elegant circling shots swaying with David's womanly curves. Bringing David and Claire together over the loss of Laura,Ozon gives their scenes a sensuality which avoids titillation by Ozon dimming the lights and focusing on the faces of David and Claire.Taken from one of Ruth Rendell's lesser-known non-murder mystery books,the screenplay by Ozon gives the title a comedic zest, shining from the delightfully funny attempts Claire makes for David to not stand out at a women's fashion house,to David getting more than popcorn and a Coke at the cinema. Delicately building the relationship with their comedic playfulness, Ozon paints an incredibly touching melodrama,with Claire fully embracing Virginia (David) and Virginia finding a new love,whilst keeping the memory of Laura at heart.Pulling up a role originally offered to Matthias Schoenaerts, Romain Duris gives an incredible performance as Virginia/David thanks to Duris finding a common ground whilst emphasising the most unique elements of their personalities,from David's quiet reserved attitude being wiped away by the flamboyance of Virginia. Supporting Virginia at every stage,the pretty Anaïs Demoustier gives a great performance as Claire,who carries her friendship with Laura for the whole film,which Demoustier threads into Claire welcoming a new person in her life,as Claire meets the new girlfriend.

Chitra Ray Can anyone please tell me the ending of the movie as I have seen this movie in French (the language I don't know at all) without English subtitles....need help :( badlyI have try to understand from English trailers,....so got the jest if the movie but honestly I really want to know the ending as it's very confusing without the understandable language.I have read all the reviews here and try to find the book in the internet but alas it didn't help me quite. Please everyone I need your help so that I can review it here....Thank you so much...admin please allow this post. I promise after this I will edit the post with correct review.

esperancaed What a beautiful film!This movie is definitely one I will recommend if asked. I enjoyed watching the plot unfold and was never bored. The visual experience is comfortable since there are many calm scenes shot in beautiful places and soft light. Considering the subject of this film I want to point out that it might not be a movie that trans* individuals find themselves relating to a lot, but rather one that is educational for people who wish to get an impression of what changes this kind of realization brings about in a person and their relationships.The first statement I made because David, as he undergoes his transition to Virginia, faces just enough problems to give outsiders an idea of what it must be like to find ones whole life changed in such a way while also establishing a background for her that means that her transition is mostly the only thing she has to worry about.She is privileged in many ways and thus never faces the additional problems a lot of trans* individuals do, simply because they have to work and/or have limited funds at their disposal. Virginia is laughed at by a man in public, but other than that does not appear to live in a part of the world where she needs to fear for her safety leaving the house as herself. She is fortunate in that way, too. This is not the norm, and movie-goers should keep that in mind.It was very good to see that there was no fuss made about the little child the main character has. Her ability to be a parent is not brought in relation with her gender identity.Trans* individuals hoping to find themselves in Virginia might be disappointed because this movie focuses less on the worldly everyday troubles that tend to dictate a life and much more on Virginia's relationships and how they evolve together with her identity, so many conversations are specific to her situation. Cis individuals will definitely recognize their own reactions in those of Virginias friend Claire, as one tends to have them in the exact same moments as she does throughout the movie.If by the end of this visually pleasing, beautifully underscored movie one finds oneself ashamed for having sympathized with Claire when she told Virginia that her behaviour was 'ridiculous' and that she needed to 'stop this', then one would be right to feel that way.

Dries Vermeulen Erstwhile Wunderkind François Ozon finally regains his grand form left floundering in the wake of his 2007 fiasco and first (and thus far only) English language film ANGEL. His immediate follow-up, RICKY, proved wildly uneven with a head-scratching second half undoing its initial poignancy. POTICHE did extremely well at the box-office but couldn't help but feel like 8 WOMEN Lite with both THE REFUGE and IN THE HOUSE teetering on the brink of greatness but hampered by bland or unsatisfactory endings respectively. Reason to rejoice about THE NEW GIRLFRIEND then, all the more surprising because it is one of those rare instances that finds Ozon adapting a literary source (in this case, a Ruth Rendell potboiler) to accommodate his personal proclivities rather than working from an original, preferably self-penned screenplay, a skill he has been somewhat faltering at of late.It was love at first sight for Claire and Laura, played as adults by Anaïs Demoustier and Isild Le Besco respectively, when they met at school aged 7 and were to become inseparable over the following years. Romance and marriage barely intervened so it was almost a given that Claire would vow to take care of Laura's husband David (Romain Duris) and their newborn baby Lucie when her BFF passed away mere months after childbirth. Now it's one thing to make such a promise but quite a different matter to follow through and Claire's so overcome with grief herself that she can't bear to be around her dead friend's husband, until she accidentally finds out his great secret...Spoiler alert !!! Venturing into the late Laura's house when the doorbell goes unanswered, Claire stumbles across David in full female drag casually giving his daughter her afternoon bottle. Although he claims this is his admittedly rather unique way to cover up a mother's absence to his infant offspring, David can barely disguise his excitement when showing Claire his wardrobe, consisting mostly of Laura's altered clothes and wigs bought over the internet. Claire's initial shock turns to bemusement as she christens David's alter ego "Virginia" and agrees to take "her" shopping and to the movies, the Vivien Leigh version of WATERLOO BRIDGE at a repertory theater where Virginia's felt up by an anonymous patron, "her" excitement stemming not so much from sexual pleasure as from the stranger's casual acceptance of "her" as a woman.Keeping David's secret life - and by extension her own as an all too willing accomplice - carefully hidden from her doting but clueless husband Gilles (the extraordinarily handsome Raphaël Personnaz, best known for playing MARIUS in Daniel Auteuil's recent Marcel Pagnol adaptations), Claire experiences a growing need to spend time with "Virginia" who's obviously filling the void left by Laura so they decide to spend an entire weekend together at the rural getaway of David's in-laws with lies told to all concerned. A trip to a pan-sexual nightclub confronts them with their secret selves as they watch sensational drag diva Eve Carlton mime to Nicole Croisille's haunting Une Femme Avec Toi, a song successfully treading the fine line between heartfelt and melodramatic similar to Ozon's finest work. The song's reappearance at the story's climax will provide an emotional sucker punch though it could so easily have slipped into mawkishness had the director (or his cast) hit the wrong notes.I must admit to breathing a huge sigh of relief in witnessing the assurance with which Ozon handles this tricky material, his in your face impudence first endearing him to cinema critics worldwide having matured into forgiveness and understanding of what drives his troubled characters. The gorgeous glowing hues of the autumnal photography by Pascal Marti (who shot Philippe Labro's underrated RIVE DROITE, RIVE GAUCHE a full three decades ago) celebrate the "lifelong" friendship between Claire and Laura in the engaging opening montage, gaining a distinctly ironic edge when they return for an ambiguously "happy" ending that will have you pondering its morbidly unhealthy implications for days after-wards.Still, even the most compelling tale would fall flat on its face without the right actors to tell it. Cast against type from his familiar ne'er do well Lotharios, Duris shines as the gender-conflicted David, his cross-dressing going from clumsy (sporting an overlooked five o'clock shadow when first going out) to completely convincing as "Virginia" gains gradual assurance, and the upper hand perhaps ? Up against such a showy part, it's not easy for youthful Anaïs Demoustier to hold her own, making it all the more impressive when she wrestles the limelight away from her experienced "leading lady". Claire's inner conflict remains very much the focus throughout, her affection for Laura having missed the opportunity of evolving into something more "transgressive" (as evidenced by a pair of highly erotic same sex fantasy sequences) with David/Virginia as a potential substitute. Of course, the ravishing redhead's willingness to undress (already displayed in Malgorzata Szumowska's sweltering ELLES) doesn't hurt and immediately endears her to this old pervert's heart. Always great to see veteran actress Aurore Clément (although she seems to have suffered some dodgy cosmetic surgery) as Laura's grieving mom and toothsome Isild Le Besco (sister of actress/director Maïwenn) practically creates an entire character out of thin air, projecting Laura's luminescence hovering over a narrative she's only spectrally part of.