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Un Air De Famille [DVD] [1998] [US Import]
 
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Un Air De Famille [DVD] [1998] [US Import]

DVD ~ Jean-Pierre Bacri
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Un Air De Famille [DVD] [1998] [US Import]
33% buy the item featured on this page:
Un Air De Famille [DVD] [1998] [US Import] 4.5 out of 5 stars (4)
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Product details

  • Actors: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Claire Maurier, Vladimir Yordanoff, Catherine Frot, Peter Tuesday
  • Directors: Cedric Klapisch, Benoit Delhomme, Cédric Klaposh
  • Format: Colour, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, PAL
  • Language French
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: Unrated (US MPAA rating. See details.)
  • Studio: Fox Lorber
  • DVD Release Date: 15 Jun 1999
  • Run Time: 105 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: 1572524898
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 35,932 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Set almost entirely on a single set with a small handful of players spending a single evening together, it's not hard to spot that Un Air de Famille was adapted from a stage play, which is usually a recipe for boring cinema. Happily Un Air de Famille is an exception to this rule, mostly because it features a witty and frequently poignant script and superb ensemble performances, all shot with unfussy crispness and joie de vivre by director Cédric Klapisch and cinematographer Benoît Delhomme.

The plot revolves around a typical bourgeois French family, their ritualised displays of affection and concern for one another barely disguising jealousies, resentments, and long suppressed hostilities. The clan gathers to celebrate the birthday of Yolande, wife of successful son and Maman's favourite Phillipe. Henri, the irascible inheritor of the bar, always in Phillipe's shadow, frets over the absence of his wife Arlette, while Phillipe worries vainly over his appearance earlier that evening on television. Rebellious sister Betty mulls over her stalled clandestine affair with Denis, Henri's sweet-natured and downtrodden bar man. Maman clucks and bullies and undermines her brood with a skill only a lifetime's practice can achieve, while poor old Caruso, the family's crippled golden retriever pants silently in the corner, waiting to die.

Along with Klapisch, stars and screenwriters Jean-Pierre Bacri and Agnés Jaoui won Césars, the equivalent of a French Oscar, for their script, while Catherine Frot, who plays mousey chignoned Yoyo, and Jean-Pierre Darroussin (Denis), also won Césars for their delightfully understated performances, if not for their nimble ce rock dance routine to Patti Smith's "People Have the Power". Frot's plaudits are particularly well deserved especially for her magnificent display of tipsy, barely disguised disappointment when she learns she's been given another golden retriever, doomed to develop arthritis, from her domineering mother-in-law (Claire Maurier, who also played the neglectful mother in François Truffaut's first film, The 400 Blows). --Leslie Felperin

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Turbulent relationships., 7 Jul 2000
This review is from: Un Air De Famille [VHS] [1998] (VHS Tape)
If like me you like French films, you will like this one. There is no plot to speak of and no time wasted on car-chases and violent action sequences. There is just fascinating dialogue and the interaction of interesting characters, plus the expression of real emotion and nuances of feeling. There is an intimacy with the characters that is typically French and which the Americans rarely achieve. At the end of the film you feel you know and understand these people and are wiser for having known them.

I loved the performance of Catherine Frot in the film. She was delicious and made the character of Yolande incredibly appealing and lovable. What a crying shame she should have shackled herself to such a self-centred, unappreciative husband. He was the luckiest man alive and yet too obtuse to realize it. How appallingly sad.

The high-light of the film for me was the little dance Yolande had with the quiet, philosophic bar-man Denis, played by Jean Pierre Darroussin, who, revealing his kind heart, offered to dance with her when her insensitive husband refused - despite the fact that it was supposed to be her birthday celebration. Denis's skillful dancing surprised them all, and disclosed a whole new aspect of his personality. There is a touching moment at the bar when Yolande, suspecting Betty's romantic interest and trying to encourage it, says to her with a lovely winsome expression; "He's a good dancer." And at the end of the film when Betty and Denis are seen to declare their love for each other, she says delightedly, to the chagrin of her snobbish and spiteful mother-in-law; "You know what this means? It means he's going to be part of the family."

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth a look, 19 May 2000
By M. Saunders - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Un Air De Famille [VHS] [1998] (VHS Tape)
Very funny, with brilliant dialogue. No action, no stunts, but lots of humour. It'll mean a lot to most families :)
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5.0 out of 5 stars Acutely funny, poignant and often heartbreakingly sad., 20 Aug 2008
By H. A. James "Hywel James" (Devon, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Un Air De Famille [VHS] [1998] (VHS Tape)
This film offers sharp and snappy dialogue, delivered by a handful of superb players, in a dark and confined setting that mirrors the claustrophobic nature of their emotional lives and relationships. But it's tremendous fun and, as other reviewers have said, all of us can identify with the tensions and frustrations that exist in families, and all of us recognise that from time to time, those emotions can burst forth in ways that are sometimes cruel and sometimes simply ridiculous.

It's a superbly crafted movie and the director handles every scene with consummate skill. Even the dog, Caruso, paralysed though he is (that's part of the story) makes a flawless contribution.

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 		 Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A Theatre Piece
It will come as no surprise that this film was originally a play and is set entirely in one room.
The film, however, has some interesting characterisations of a family coming... Read more
Published on 12 April 2003

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