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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A three-way love relationship., 17 Nov 2000
This is a very French and very charming love story, filmed as only the French seem to know how with remarkable subtlety and sensitivity. Benoit, played by Yvan Attal, a shy and introverted bank-clerk, advertises for a girl friend and has the remarkable good fortune to meet the modest and appealing Marie, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, a girl with the natural look, without much evidence of any make-up. She doesn't feel any instant attraction but likes him because he is nice and kind - though, as it turns out, also dull and unimaginative. He takes her to meet his best friend Pierre, played by Charles Berling, (seen playing a similar obsessive lover in L'Ennui) and for over a year the three of them go about everywhere together. Then she marries Benoit with Pierre acting as his best-man.But throughout this time Pierre has been trying to stifle his love for Marie and failing miserably. Able to stand it no longer he declares his love and Marie is horrified. She does her best to discourage him but over many months he pursues her with a persistence that not many men would be capable of. And in the end, as we expect, his persistence pays off. What woman could withstand such ardent overtures from a charismatic man with a sense of humour? And he behaves in a lovable, unconventional way, - a bit in the style of Cary Grant - he lies spread-eagled in the middle of the road to stop an approaching car and he stands on his head when she takes his photograph at the sea-side, both actions a bit beyond the nice but plodding Benoit. When however, Benoit discovers their guilty secret he reacts violently, a scene that seems a little out of place in a film which up to that point has been pleasant and amusing. Betrayed by his best friend and the woman he loves, and consequently losing them both, is it possible for him ever to be happy again? Well the film does end happily - if a little unconvincingly - to the accompaniment of a very moving and very French ballad. Believe me it will bring tears to your eyes.
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