Paris Follies (2014)

Simply A Masterpiece

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

I thought I was going to see a serious French intimate film, but no, I'm going to see a poorly played TV movie without explanation. Bored to the point. It seems a lie that with the duo protagonist may well, but so it is.I do not like the picture at all. French cinema does not usually seek anything technically but this movie is too much. The director neither directs actors nor camera nor tone nor anything.I did not like it at all.Spoiler: I do not know when a character is shown, Isabelle, who is looking to mess with anyone. It gives the impression that it would lie down with all France. Either I have not heard or been introduced to an intelligent woman who lives in the countryside and likes to feel that she can seduce someone. But from there to that anybody's worth, I do not know.Worst of all is that according to the movie, whatever, whatever, we all deceive and forgive ourselves, or we simply do not follow. And all this without the slightest feeling.

Based on Paris Follies, I must assume that French movie studios have their stars under contract and must pay them whether they make a movie or not. I can't find any other explanation for Paris Follies other than a need to make a movie, any movie. The plot is thin to the point of transparency, consisting of Yvette trotting off to Paris for a non-existent doctor's appointment with the purpose of getting bedded by a young hunk. When that falls through, she beds the next available guy, a visiting doctor. We have no idea why (other than one reference to not doing it lately) until we learn that Xavier had an affair himself. That's called revenge effing around here and not sufficiently uplifting subject for a movie. Screen writing does matter.Even if Paris Follies had a worthwhile plot, it would get a Razzie for some of the most deadly=literal subtitles on earth. Can you imagine translating the famous brand name of a cheese (La Vache Qui Rit) in a French movie. I'm not joking about that.Don't let this turkey rob you of a couple of hours of your life.

Even had she not played Emma Bovary for Claude Chabrol in 1991 Isabelle Huppert would have had little difficulty with this much-diluted version indeed neither she nor co-star Jean-Pierre Darrousin would have problems with virtually any role given their respective track records so it is ironic that they fail to convince as a much-married couple with adult children. It is, in fact, difficult to believe that two such major actors in French cinema have never co-starred until now. A third actor - who served as a bonus in my case - is Marina Fois and I was disappointed that her role was merely a cameo with barely ten minutes screen time but again, cast as an eccentric she had no reason to rely on costume, glasses, etc in order to convince as she is far too good an actress to need props such as these. The plot itself - aside from the Bovary overtones - is all too familiar but even the most hackneyed plot is safe in the hands of pros like these. Recommended.