Magique ! (2008)

You won't be disappointed!

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Just saw this movie last night. To get straight to the point, if you have always wanted to sit back and listen to poetry sung/spoken with all the deep subtleties of the soothing French language, then you have found your movie. Without a doubt, the focus is on the rhyme, meter, and prose. What a pity this musical focuses so little on the drama and storyline. I love a simple story well told. I love music. Words carefully chosen can send trembles down my spine. What I do not like are constant interruptions. And that is what you get in this movie. The drama interrupts the music and the music interrupts the drama. There are simply far too many songs (about 1 every 5 minutes) that prevent us from sucking any depth out of the story. And with a story so simple as this movie's is, you need some time to dig deep. You are allowed none of that. And what a shame because everything feels flat. Even the poetry of the songs, while sounding deep, end up ultimately talking about nothing. The movie seems to feel that tiny random events of beauty in and of themselves, make life meaningful. They don't. Tiny random events of beauty make life exhilarating because there is a higher meta-narrative which transcends them and ties them together."Magique" also suffers from few memorable melodies and average singing. But the director did not intend to produce full blown songs. but rather more diary entries into the character's heads. Still not very interesting from a dramaturgical point of view. Nothing moved me.

Here is a movie that is pure artistic delight in every way. What a pity that some people do not see the depth and purpose of this movie. I see people complaining about its lack of "realism". Well it is precisely the absence of "realism" and the magical aura that makes this movie so real and so touching. This movie is a enchanting and captivating "tale" that plays very delicately with important topics such as loneliness and love. And the softness of its music together with the sublime poetry of the songs' words are used masterfully to touch our hearts. Yes, one has to understand French to appreciate the sublime poetry of the songs. I am not surprised that the harshest critics are those who do not speak French. From the beginning to the end I was totally absorbed, captivated, deeply moved and entertained by this fabulous movie, the kind of gem that is rarely seen. So, if you have an artistic sensitive soul you will love it. Trust me.

Philippe Muyl allowed six years to pass between La Papillon and Magique or perhaps he was unable to raise the money for a follow-up any earlier. This is not for the cynical and yet I like to think I have a healthy dose of cynicism in my make up and I responded to it which is not necessarily the same as enjoying it without reservations. Muyl's best film remains Cuisine et dependences, adapted from their stage success by the brilliant writer/acting team of Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri but Le Papillon was a fine film and so to a lesser extent is Magique which relies on one name, Marie Gillain, to sell it. Gillain is a great actress, one I have long admired but not really a 'marquee' name and she makes a great job of carrying this entry which may, it has to be said, appear twee at times but, in its defense, the title warns you of that and it is what it says on the box. For the young in heart certainly, for those who are still on speaking terms with childhood, certainly but for others, helas, non.

I can't express how bad this film really was, but I'll give it a go. I don't speak French and in this case it was a blessing. The story was flimsy, unrealistic and to be honest boring. The cast constantly flopped into song, and while I don't mind a musical, these 'songs' were so turgid and sickly I felt like puking on the spot. All sense of realism was discarded, no characterisation was attempted, and the main child actor was so irritating I just wanted to smack him in the face every time he appeared on screen. The only plus was that the photography wasn't terrible, and some of the Canadian scenery was nice. Someone in the cinema fell asleep so I assume I wasn't the only one who felt this way, and in fact my female companion agrees with my comments.I'll be interested to see if anyone gives this a positive rating.