Product Details

• Actors: Ginette Garcin, Marie-Christine Barrault, Victor Lanoux, Marie-France Pisier, Guy Marchand
• Directors: Jean Charles Tacchella
• Producers: cousine Cousin
• Format: Import, PAL, Subtitled
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Arrow Films
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0019D9NMS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #242,353 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: French ( Mono ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Love turns out to be all in the family in this romantic comedy from France. When an elderly couple decides to marry, their families come together for a wedding banquet that turns into a raucous, wine-soaked celebration. Marthe (Marie-Christine Barrault) and Ludovic (Victor Lanoux) are distant cousins related by marriage who meet for the first time at the reception; they take an immediate liking to each other and resolve that they should see each other more often. Before long, they've become close friends, but their spouses begin to think there's more going on than just good conversation. However, the more people are convinced the two have become lovers, the more the idea of taking their friendship to the next level appeals to them. Marie-France Pisier has a memorably funny "suicide" scene as Ludovic's wife. Cousin Cousine was a surprise commercial success in the United States, where it received several Academy Award nominations and spawned an Americanized remake, Cousins (1989).; SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Ceasar Awards, Golden Globes, Oscar Academy Awards, San Sebastian International Film Festival, ...Cousin, cousine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Cool.....Marie-France Pisier is Especially Good, April 28, 2005

By 

Only-A-Child - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Cousin Cousine [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you have a playful sense of humor and enjoy films with an early Fellini (celebration of life-quirky characters) flavor, you should make it a point to watch "Cousin Cousine". Released in 1975, on the surface this is just an off-beat love story about two middle-aged "cousins-by marriage" who are drawn to each other by a shared playfulness. These kindred spirits awaken in each other a zestful and irreverent attitude toward life that distances them from their large (and somewhat strange) extended family. They want to experience as much of life as possible, the man has made it a practice to change professions (not just jobs) every three years so that nothing gets stale. They are very open about their affair, reasoning that the rest of the family will think the worst anyway. Not surprisingly their affair also distances them from their respective spouses, who do not share their fun-loving and irreverent attitudes.

The lovers are played by Christine Barrault (nominated for an Oscar) and Victor Lanoux. Although they are fun and likable characters, most of the comedy in this film emanates from the performances of the actors who play their respective spouses. Guy Marchand plays Barrault's husband as a cranky and pathetic Cassanova whose philandering lifestyle is cramped by his inability to cope with his wife's sudden infidelity. Marie-France Pisier, as Lanoux's neurotic airhead wife, subtly steals each scene in which she appears; when a character introduces themselves with the revelation that the only time they have ever been happy was during hypnotherapy, you know that interesting moments are ahead. And for what it is worth Pisier is breathtakingly beautiful.

The affair causes the Marchand and Pisier characters a great deal of pain for most of the film, but by the end they have pretty much adjusted to everything. Marchand has resumed his pursue of other women and Pisier has returned to her main source of pleasure-therapy. Marchand's regeneration occurs with his first playful moment, he mounts a knife (fake) in his back and staggers into the living room to the shock of the assembled relatives. While Pisier's regeneration is the best scene of the film. Alone and fully clothed in the bathroom, she half-heartedly tries to slit her wrist with a razor blade and falls backward into the empty tub, which she unexpectedly finds a pleasant and relaxing place to think. And how appropriate since the bathtub is a device we associate with privacy, purgation, relaxation, openness, and regeneration.

They say that all films are political and "Cousin Cousine" is no exception. Films have the power to deconstruct the traditional values of society and this love story is also a social commentary on the hypocrisy and double-standards of 1970's western middle class culture. And while pointing out these issues it offers psycho-political messages that each viewer can relate to personally and specifically. The theme is that each day should be a celebration of life, experience, and growth.

The grandfather is shown as someone whose long life has given him a real perspective. He is pleased when his teenage granddaughter reveals that she has discovered sex and found it to be wonderful, delighted that she has found something see finds wonderful and amused because her joy is so contrary to the nihilism she had been embracing. He is self-sufficient, the widowed grandmother from the other side of the family enjoys being with him but realizes that he is perfectly comfortable and prefers living alone. He is disturbed by the failure of the family to take any significant time from their lives to mourn his brother's passing.

The strange antics of the adults in this extended family are a source of great amusement to the observant children. The carnival music score gives the many extended and flowing group shots a pleasing circus side-show attraction flavor.

Note how the film opens with one of families driving to the wedding; parents in the front seat, brother and little sister in the back seat. The parents are agitated and scolding, the children calm and attentive to the experience of the moment. They go out of the scene with the little sister sliding over to be closer to her brother and smiling in adoration. The same little observant girl appears in close-up periodically throughout the film, smiling in amusement at the antics of everyone around her. The film ends with the little girl smiling serenely out the window as she watches the lovers leave on their motorcycle.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe the Most Romantic Movie Ever, June 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cousin Cousine [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I absolutely urge you to see this one. It may be the most giddily romantic movie I've ever seen -- the leads are so likable, the premise is so . . . so French, the music is so infectious, and the final shot is just perfection. I won't give any of the plot away, but plot is just the beginning of what makes this work (so steer clear of the mediocre American remake, Cousins). Only bad moment: a supposedly dead character whose eyelids are fluttering like a flag in a hurricane (I think he thought his face was off-camera, but someone should have caught it). I saw it at 10 p.m. in a theater in 1975 and had planned to stay for a midnight movie of something else, but this movie so entranced me that I left and didn't see another movie for weeks. See it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming and wry., September 5, 2002

By 

Kate Tutor "katetutor" (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cousin Cousine [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Two entirely likeable people are suffering because of the infidelities of their respective mates until they find each other. Warm, charming and very life affirming.