Family Resemblances (1996)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Let's be realistic.

Lack of good storyline.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

If your idea of entertainment is watching family members yell at each other, offer bitter sarcasm, and make each other feel bad about themselves, this is the movie for you! My French teacher told me this was one of his favorite films, so I ordered it from France in the European version. I was very disappointed. Granted, my French isn't perfect, but I understood most of it and still thought it wasn't very funny. In fact, it made me uncomfortable, and very little struck me as funny or entertaining. I guess the French have a different sense of humor. Because the screen play was adapted from a play, almost all of the story takes place inside of a bar, and this takes some of the potential entertainment value away. There isn't much of a plot--I kept waiting for something to happen, but it never did.

'Un air de Famille' takes (as one might deduce from the title) 'Family' as its subject. Specifically, it centres upon one middle-class family in an unnamed town somewhere in France. This lack of specification of location makes the focus of the film abundantly clear; the petty rivalries, failed ambitions and unspoken resentments that characterise the 'family'.As such, it is very well executed, with a funny and subtle script originating from the play by Jean-Pierre Bacri and Agnès Jaoui who also play, respectively, the family 'loser' Henri and his sister, Betty. It deals with the universal truth that we, as adults, constantly struggle with the stereotypes that our families thrust upon us as children. Henri is 'always screwing up', and Phillippe (Wladimir Yordanoff), the elder brother is the shining star that can do no wrong, at least in the eyes of their formidable matriarch 'Maman', played with terrifying reality and stomach-turning implacability by Claire Maurier. Betty, as a girl, 'didn't count' and as a result seems to shrink from responsibility and commitment at every opportunity, turning to her brother for work and rejecting a relationship with the sweet bartender, Denis (Jean-Pierre Darroussin).The clash of these conflicting personalities takes place in one evening, as the family assemble to celebrate the birthday of Yolande, Phillippe's sweet and unappreciated wife. The is over-shadowed by Phillipe's anxiety over a two minute TV appearance and the disappearance of Henri's wife, played out against the backdrop of the seemingly bottomless insensitivity of their mother.The dialogue is sensitive and gently comedic, as are the familiar and mundane situations the characters find themselves in, creating a touching and memorable story. However it is perhaps this that is the central problem of the film; dialogue and character is so much the focus that the film-makers appear to have deemed it unnecessary to transpose the action from play to film. As a result, 'Un Air de Famille' is incredibly static, the action taking place almost entirely in one building, Henri's dilapidated and 'undistinguished' café. While almost total uniformity of location can be an interesting and effective device in film (Lumets's 'Twelve Angry Men' being the most obvious example), the choice in this context appears careless and unimaginative, leaving the viewer (or at least this viewer) wondering what the claustrophobia was in aid of.This is not to suggest that there is no creative film technique in 'Un Air de Famille', indeed, its use of mirrors and reflections as frequent counterpoints to shots adds an interesting sense of voyeurism. On top of this, it permits the viewer information unseen by the participants, as we observe reactions from characters behind or facing away from the camera. It is a clever conceit, adding meaning and, at times, comedy.Ultimately, 'Un Air de Famille' is a very enjoyable, sweet and at times funny tale of compromised characters and everyday life. Its denouement, although hopeful for the characters of Betty and Henri, offers little hope for other characters, such as Phillippe and Yolande, but perhaps this is the point; it is observation and understanding that the film offers us, it is perhaps too modest to suggest a solution.

The obvious 'filmed play' style enhanced this for me - there would have been little to gain by making it more of a movie. Wonderful character development and fantastic acting. A disturbing portrait of a dysfunctional family - exaggerated slightly to play to the back of the house, but not too much.

Forget about the way the actors are directed and the fact that it certainly was better on stage... if you speak French, this movie is a pure delight. I cannot find anyone to compare with JP Bacri and some of the actors in the film. It's in their voices, in the words they use... It may not appeal to Canadians or Belgians since this humour is simply unique and you either love it or hate it. I don't know how anyone could translate the dialogues into English without losing all the "flavour".