Sexual Chronicles of a French Family (2012)

Overrated and overhyped

best movie i've ever seen.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Warning: This review includes spoilers! I saw the uncut version. From a straight male point of view there were indeed some scenes with lovely nude ladies who may even have been genuinely aroused by what they were participating in. But! There was a lot of emphasis on male sexuality, by comparison little emphasis on female sexuality. There was a lot of explicit male nudity (genitals), but no explicit female nudity (apart from a short dark scene at the beginning). This was extremely unbalanced. If they want to include scenes like that they should give equal attention to both sexes. Typically they didn't. In the end one male character came out of the closet. But in fact, the whole film had done that already.

The leisurely comedy-drama follows teenage Romain, the youngest in a family whose members and various boyfriends and girlfriends more or less freely discuss their sex lives, with some interesting boundaries. Romain, the virgin of the group, laments his condition but with encouragement and validation from his father becomes confident enough to go to bed with his love interest, Coralie. The movie chronicles the dynamics of the couples with a lighthearted, unpretentious approach. As Romain, Mathias Melloul conveys just the right combination of reluctance and assertiveness, and actors playing the father and grandfather are genuinely low-key and charming. Only the mother and older brother come off as superficial, no fault of the players. It's due to a scenario that is too thin to add or sustain much depth or insight. The hardcore sex scenes that at times limit the drama are shot artlessly, although the penultimate scene between the two young leads nicely illustrates the tentative awkwardness of first love. The movie is not a documentary.

What is interesting is the description of the sexual life of a whole french family living nowadays : from the young teenager who makes love for the first time with her girlfriend, to his grandfather who lost his wife and makes love with a young prostitute.I found the description rather credible and realistic, all the actors are good.I saw the uncensored version which is quite less explicit than many other mainstream movies with explicit sex scenes (like "9 songs" for instance). The DVD issue is more explicit, but most of the versions shown in movie theatre are censored (and rated for a public above 12 in France).the sex scenes are relevant, they are linked to the story and they are neither gratuitous nor vulgar, I think.

This is no feature movie, it's a documentary. Varying stages of sexual development are condensed documented in one 90 minute movie embedded in a story. I wish I could have seen it when I was in puberty. Would have saved me some embarrassment. Watching it will be very disturbing for anyone under 30 to 35 years of age. That's because your own memories of shameful incidents during your puberty will be brought up. But it's also quite instructive: When the mother discusses with the school principal, you'd wish your own parents would have reacted like her. As it is an European movie, it contains nudity where nudity is essential to the content, wouldn't merit a single "X" in most countries over here. Guess it should be rated PG12 as smaller children would actually be bored by the plot.