Jacky in the Kingdom of Women (2014)

Great Film overall

As Good As It Gets

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The country is somewhat of a mix between Iran and North Korea. It's like in many Muslim countries but in reverse. Men have to wear veils and stay at home while women go to work and run everything... Men's freedoms are very limited, even thought the state claims to be a democracy, and they are the ones being objectified and preyed on. Jacky, being a handsome young man, is admired by many women in his village. However he only likes the Colonelle and dreams that she selects him to become his rider( it's because the country worships horses so some jokes are about riding). The movie is pretty much a Cinderella story but in reverse and with a twist. It was fun to watch so 10/10 from me.

After Les Beaux gosses in 2009, everybody placed high hopes on Riad Sattouf's and was expecting his second movie to live up to his debut one but Jacky au royaume des filles turns out to be a complete disappointment. The scenario, to his credit, relies on an original and quirky background with lots of well thought out details but the plot could be summed up in one line and therefore runs out of steam very quickly. If the comic could compensate for the weakness of the script... but the few, contrived gags barely crack the viewer a smile. You finish this sloppy and endless (despite lasting only 1h30) movie in freewheel mode.

Riad Sattouf is a tough guy to second-guess. At the very moment - 2014 - when IS has proudly inherited and rejoices in flaunting the mantle of Ghenghis Khan, Attila The Hun, Vlad The Impaler, Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler, Sattouf has chosen to launch his movie Jacky In The Kingdom Of Women on an indifferent world. It's difficult-to-impossible for a klutz like me to interpret the film as a satire of, an attack on, or an endorsement of IS as seen through the eyes of a pantomime character. To nutshell it we are in a mythical kingdom where women call the shots and men wear the burka and walk six paces behind. The head honcho, Anenome, is in failing health and, with shades of King Lear, desires to hand over to her daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, but first, Gainsbourg needs to be married. The solution is to hold a ball for would-be suitors, where Ginsbourg will select. Jacky has had eyes for Gainsbourg forever but his family attempt to prevent him staking his claim. That's it. For my money it's a crock of you know what but then what do I know.

I saw this movie at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal last night. The first thing that comes to my mind is that this movie is totally unique and a bit disturbing. It is not disturbing in an uncomfortable way, but more in the sens that it get to our world perceptions, and plays with it. This is what, in my opinion, makes the movie unique and worth seeing.The story is simple, maybe too simple, and that is what I would criticize the most about the movie. What is great is the universe in which the characters evolve, and the choice to flip accepted and widely known real world concept upside down, which at the end makes them much more visible, and gives us the opportunity to see them in another angle. Men wear the burka and are totally dominated by women, which is an absurd situation which makes us laugh, but also makes us stop and think that in the end, it's the (sometime difficult and unwanted) reality of a lot of women in the real world. Humour in this movie always come with an realistic double sense that makes us feel weird, but also makes us think.References to a lot of different totalitarian regimes in the real world are also interesting about the movie's universe, as are the references to different real world religions (Christianity is unfortunately not so much present).The actors are good and the characters are credible. The images are well shot, and some strange places shot in the movie makes us wonder if they were incredibly real or fake.I recommend watching the movie because it is special and unique, but I would probably not watch it again.Vive les chevalins! :D