Park Benches (2009)

Lack of good storyline.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This movie plodded along listlessly with no particular message. Finally, I could take it no more. I mercifully killed it, gave it one star on Netflix and moved on to other things.It started well enough. Had it just stuck to that theme, you might have been able to salvage some of it. You don't throw Catherine Deneveux into a movie unless it is a serious movie. The scenes were way too long, there were too many characters, and you could not really identify with any of them. Frankly, it was no different from taking your camera to your office and filming your colleagues in various states of mischief and trying to pass it on as a serious movie.

We watch as Lucie, obviously a commuter, goes to work one morning. It is a complicated affair where several changes must be made. Once at her office, which she shares with two other women, they idle their down time with different activities on line like games, dating services and other trivial matters. As the blinds from their window are raised, the ladies notice a banner proclaiming 'Man Alone" on the balcony of the building across the street. What could the message mean? The office is full of speculations as most of the employees have seen the banner.The scene changes to a park near where the office is located. Most of the employees go to have lunch at the park, Lucie included. We watch an assortment of characters enjoying the balmy afternoon at a tranquil setting. Among the visitors we find some fellows from a nearby hardware store, much like Home Depot. One man in particular, Aime, was asked by his boss to hand out the weekly circular advertising special sales, but he entertains himself making paper airplanes. One of those lands in front of Lucie, who looks directly at Aime.The third part of the story is set inside the store. Aime, who shows signs of depression, loves to drink a liquid that is added to fish tanks. He and his fellow workers show an enormous ineptitude to help the customers that come searching for different tools and gizmos. Lucie comes in looking for a present for a retiring woman at the office. She wants gold fish to add to one of the presents for Mme. Renivelle. In the middle of the celebration, Lucie looks across the street and sees light inside the "Man Alone" apartment. In her heart she has a hunch she knows who is the dweller.A good comedy by director Bruno Podalydes with a cast of what could be a Who's Who in the French cinema. This is a sort of a comic opera in three acts with whimsical overtones. First, there is the concern about what desperation the man that wrote the banner must be feeling. Not able to solve the puzzle, life intervenes in different forms. The only negative thing about the film is that most of the actors have a limited time on screen and some vignettes are not as fully developed as the others. Despite that, the comedy is fun to watch. Florence Muller and Denis Podalydes are the actors that have the bigger parts out of the many luminaries that grace the screen with their individual cameo appearances. There are too many to just mention one. The ensemble acting the director gets from the large cast is remarkable. One can imagine the fun in the set as the film was made.

After having seen the cast and read a preview I was convinced it would be a good movie. Generally this is exactly the type of movie I like. A movie about the interactions of regular people in a neighbourhood. No special plot, just a poetic observation of life in a limited space.Unfortunately the film was a total disappointment. It felt like a juxtaposition of stories which never allow the audience empathise with the characters.The most engaging scene was the one in the park with an interesting alternation of the camera between different people. The viewer felt part of the scene as a common bystander sat on a bench, observing each different group, each different scene. The director should have developed this part as the film title lead to believe instead of letting the scene at the hardware store drag on.In the end I wonder why so many great French actors agreed to collaborate on this film.