Times Have Been Better [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

I can't believe it took this long for the DVD to arrive in the US (Sept 07) since it feels like ages ago that I saw this movie in Paris -- then took friends to see it in Toronto -- and then dragged friends to see it in NYC.

This is a wonderful and fun little film about what happens when you think you are going to get one type of reaction from loved ones, but get the opposite reaction instead, with hilarious result.

The cast is uniformly terrific, and I am sure that this movie will eventually be remade in the US with a US-based english-speaking cast...but it will be hard to beat the talented and charming cast in this French film.

Loved it loved it loved it. Highly recommended.

it was incredible watching this movie even with the language barrier..it didnt even matter. subtitles do help but for me i could just feel what the older brother was going through not by my own experience. But just by seeing how they were reacting to each other as they were filming and how the actors and actresses all worked together to bring across a movie that while funny and dramatic. Also has some scenes that get you pissed again i'm not one to go telling specific scenes in the movie. But i will say that the father of the older son first seems cool with his son telling him and mother that he's gay.

But as you progress further into the film he starts losing it, lashing out, slapping his younger son (also a delight to watch in this movie) for something about the lawn. it is interesting to see how folks really react and feel to a situation not what they are thinking and think that person wants to hear. It just came across so well and made a huge impression on me long after it was over. I cant help hope to see all the people in this movie again in something as good as Times Have Been Better. But its highly rated and recommended by me for rent and then a purchase afterwards. It will draw in folks no matter what their sexual preference is.

Loved it!!!!

TIMES HAVE BEEN BETTER (Le Ciel sur la tête) is a polished little French 'made for television' film that holds its own on every level in the theater and on DVD. The issues it tackles are many, not just the main topic of coming out to a family. This is one of the better, more fully rounded examinations of the contemporary family in recent years. Based on a story and screenplay by Nicholas Mercier and directed by Régis Musset, this is a sophisticated comedy with some sensitive dramatic overtones presented by a fine cast and superb production values.

Jérémy (Arnaud Binard) is the wholly successful business executive son of Rosine (the amazingly fine actress Charlotte de Turckheim) and Guy (Bernard Le Coq) and big brother to Robin (Olivier Guéritée). When he pays a surprise visit to his home for an impromptu brunch, his family is in fine spirits until the reason for the surprise visit is made known: Jérémy announces to his parents that he is gay and though Robin has known this fact for some time and Rosine has suspected it, the news hits the family unit by storm. Jérémy returns to Paris to his partner Marc (Pierre Deny) and while relieved that he can now live his life in the open, Jérémy frets about the trauma to his family unit. Robin gathers the courage to rebel against going to college in favor of following his dream of being involved with cinema, Guy goes into a true depression, and Rosine decides to face the new life of her son, traveling to Paris to meet her son's home and friends and fresh outlook. While in Paris Rosine discovers her own suppressed needs and with the courage Jérémy has shown, she is able to return to her home an altered person.

The cast is very attractive and very fine and story flows so naturally, completely without cliché, that the movie becomes more a study of human behavior than of a routine 'coming out' movie. Well worth the viewer's time. In French with English subtitles. Grady Harp, November 07