Customer Reviews

Le Divorce : Widescreen Edition

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(42)

 

 

For those who do not understand French film making this movie may not be exciting but for those of us who understand this is an excellent movie that speaks to the way the French treat relationships and marriage. Some may think that it is misogynistic ---far from it though it is just a very real presentation of the French way of doing things that happens to include a few american girls whose inclusion brings cultural differences into sharp focus.

If you are fond of linear plots in which one event leads to another and the whole leads to a more or less apparent conclusion, "Le divorce" is not likely to make much of an impression on you. It is not even one of those typical Merchant Ivory films which hark back nostalgically to Victorian England or the times of the Raj. "Le divorce" is something like a voyeur peep into the life of two families, one upper-crust French, the other high-brow American which are bound together by the couple whose marriage is drifting apart. The plot has not enough dramatic flair as to have been made into a film, if plot were the only thing to account for to define a film as a work of art, but it has plenty of charm if, like me, you are partial to Paris. For those who love French lifestyle the film will prove delicious: superb decors, shots in Café Flore, the understated stardom of a plush Hermès Kelly bag and Leslie Caron's appearance as the embodiment of French chic and cartesian rationale...all these will appeal to you. Glenn Close is also breathtaking as ever as the American writer who after years of living in Paris has impeccably assimilated the best of both cultures. This is not a film for a rainy day and less so for people who look for entertainment of jaded senses. This is a hedonistic film for the dilettanti, the bon-vivant, to be savoured slowly like a good vintage bordeaux.

The majority of the Amazon reviewers for this movie were unhappy with it, but I think most of them didn't really "get" the movie. I think Americans who've lived abroad, especially in Europe, are more likely to appreciate the views expressed in this film concerning culture clash between Americans and Europeans, the French specifically.

I won't outline the plot, as that is done in too many other reviews, but let me just say that I came to appreciate this film more the 2nd and 3rd times I viewed it. The script somewhat forgoes conventional character development, and the viewer must be savvy enough to pick up on the characters' actions to discern their motivations. Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson make two pretty believable sisters as Roxy and Isabel -- Roxy is married with one young child and another on the way when her husband leaves her. Isabel is the affectionate but somewhat self-absorbed, immature younger sister who comes to Paris to keep Roxy company, but definitely persues her own agenda and ends up getting sucked into some sordid goings-on with her French in-laws.

The film touches on many themes and deals with the emotional upheaval and trauma of divorce while at the same time trying to retain the feel of intelligent romantic-comedy. It is perhaps trying to accomplish too much, as you can tell by the editing that some scenes were cut out to prevent it from being an over-long film. This is especially evident in Isabel's relationship with Yves. One minute, she's meeting him, and the next she's in bed with him. That is unfortunate on the filmmakers' part, but it didn't take too much enjoyment away from me, as I didn't have a problem filling in the blanks. But I know that not everyone can tolerate these kinds of faults in filmmaking.

As someone who lived in Europe for 5 years, I think I enjoyed it more than viewers who have more limited experiences of European lifestyle versus American. Another plus of this film is that it offers some great views of "insider" Paris, and Roxy's and Isabel's wardrobes are FANTASTIC. Beautiful clothes. My main annoyances with this film are the stupid flying Kelly handbag scene at the end (totally unnecessary), and the new DVD cover, featuring Kate and Naomi in outfits that were never seen in the film.

Excuse me if I sound too harsh, but I have to say this. James Ivory film was never so humorless and pointless as "Le Divorce," wasting everything and everyone who must have gathered here simply because of the name of the director. Sorry that I have to say so, but it was a painful experience to sit through the two hours watching this mess.

The premise based on the bestselling novel of the same title is promising. Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson are American sisters. Naomi is married to a French, who turned out unfaithful at the beginning of the film, and we see him leaving the apartment in Paris, where Kate arrives at the exact moment when he ditches (when his wife is pregnant). Naomi's character Roxeanne refuses to divorce (for no other reason than ... well, we are not allowed to know), while Kate's sister Isabel falls in love with a guy (and husband), watching him in a show on TV.

Now, it should be the time for hilarious culture-clash comedy, or at least some good romantic comedy against the backdrop of the beautiful city of Paris. And Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson can really act, as you know, plus you get delightful Stockard Channing as their mom flying all over from America. You also get Stephen Fry, Bebe Neuworth, Jean-Marc Barr, Leslie Caron, and even Glenn Close.

And what happened? A mess. A real mess. Don't be mistaken, please. The photography is great, showing the charms of the city. And I do not particlulary disagree with the descriptions of the French. Well, they may not like talking about money; they do not care much about infidelty; no, no, I just don't know these things, but the film suggests so.

The real problem is its characters, or the way the film shows them on the screen. In short, you can relate to none of them. French may act like this, but the problem is, THE FILM FAILS TO MAKE THEM CHARMING. It is quite unfunny to see a pregnant woman deserted unless the hubby in case has some redeeming quality. In "Le Divorce" there is none. And you see wrist-cutting; stalker, and murder. What do these things mean?

Or see Kate Hudson. It is quite disheartening for us to see a grown-up American female (and played by Kate 'Penny Lane' Hudson') fall in love with a cardboard character, simply because he looks great and speaks French. And it seems that Kate thinks he is gorgeous (actually, he is not) and marvellous even after she knows that she is just one of many affairs. If this is a typical case of love in France, the film should be dealt with more delicate touch and convincing characters.

The sub-plot about the painting is just as uninteresting as the main one, and the film, with so many great locations, adds up to nothing. It's all about the fantastic costumes and hairduts, but the they can hardly cover up the fact that "Le Divorce" is awfully empty and its values are quite dated. Avoid it.

I picked up this movie at a store, read the jacket and noted the stars and production team. Then I watched it looking for "romance", "comedy", and a reason to care about the story and found none. I found the movie depressing--an irate husband shooting his adulterous wife and lover, an old philanderer luring and then leaving a young lady, and stuffy French family values. The sub-story about the painting just seemed added to waste time. I mean, who cares? I waited in vain for something to happen to tie everything together. And why would Isabel throw the gun off the Eiffel Tower? It was just wrong on so many levels. They had a cast with such potential, yet had the shallowest characters I have ever seen in a movie. The best writing was on the movie jacket. I would rate this movie no stars, if they gave me the option.

Neither the French or the Americans are spared in this very well written deliciously satirical comedy of manners. Naomi Watts is believable as the sensitive, American expat Roxeanne, who has married into, and is being dumped by, her neer-do well upper crust French artist husband. The late Humbert Balsan plays the decent and considerate French lawyer who comes to her aid.

When Kate Hudson's character, Roxeanne's visiting sister, undergoes a Parisian "education amoureuse" in the arms of Theirry L'Hermitte, a right-wing politician, who ritually begins each of his affairs with the gift of a Hermes bag and ends them with a silk scarf, the sensual glories of France, its food, its love of fine underclothes ("les messieurs adorent ca", and perfumes are laid before us, photographed as only Merchant and Ivory can.

My favorite scene was that of the visiting American parents and the boorish brother at Le Tour Argent. Stephen Fry, as a representative of Christie's auction house, does a wonderful turn as a no-nonsense British businessman character, "I used to be in wines before I got into old masters."

Matthew Modine is hilarious and sinister as an unglued cuckolded husband. The Hermes bag floats over Paris in the final scene in an homage to the famous movie "The Red Balloon."

I won't speak for the book because I haven't read it, and I'm not French. If I was French, however, I imagine that I might feel insulted. The movie seems to scream at the viewer that the French are evil, gauche, and utterly frivolous, while Americans are victims, innocent and pure. While neither can be the case, it is ridiculous to taut such views.

The characters in the movie as well as their interactions, comings and goings make no sense. No one has a reason for doing what they do or going where they go. Kate Hudson's character falls in love with two men that she barely knows and is in no way a support to her sister whose French husband mysteriously runs off with a Russian woman. The evil French husband then does all he can to be utterly unfair to poor Roxy (his wife). He wants to take her children, her family's painting, ie everything he can for reasons that the movie does not go into.

What bothers me more than ridiculous people doing ridiculous things for ridiculous reasons is when movie writers have cardboard cutout people do ridiculous things for reasons that are kept hidden from us. From the scene where Kate Hudson gets a strange haircut for seemingly no reason, I simply lost interest in the story.

Also, the writers were trying to elicit emotions where their wasn't sufficient development for there to be any. Examples were the murder of the cheating husband and his girlfriend, the selling of the painting, the suicide of Roxy, the mad gun battle on the Eiffel Tower, etc. Need I go on? Save your time and your money.

It is difficult for an unusual movie to catch a break these days, especially when it's brand of peculiarity does not capture the hearts of the "artistic" film community. We have become so used to somewhat crisp storylines and a combination of characters and situations that fit into a neat Americanized package that it's no wonder a movie like this suffers from mixed reviews.

I think you have to love the French to love this movie, and I am quite fond of both. Most Americans don't like the French because they consider them to be rude, but what they perceive to be "rudeness" is, in my experience, a difference in communication style. There are several voice intonations in French that are completely normal in that language, but in English they are perceived as negative. In much the same way, this movie's tone creates similar misunderstandings.

But let's talk about the movie in more specifics. The storyline was admittedly somewhat weak and incongruous in some respects, and it does vary from the book on which it is based, but none of that really matters. The acting was delightful, especially from Kate Hudson, whose charm I never tire of (much like her delightful mother, Goldie Hawn). The characters were fascinating and added great interest to the picture. The setting was enriching for a fan of Paris, such as I am. And the generous amount of dialogue in French (with sub-titles) really helps to create the experience of being in France. Indeed, it is a unique experience that can only be appreciated by a unique group. Count me in.

Le Divorce is definitely on my buy list for when it hits DVD.

James Ivory goes outside the normal realm of his film subject matter with an adaptation of Diane Johnson's very contemporary "Le Divorce." Though this may seem like an odd choice of subject matter for the team of Ivory and Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, on second thought, it isn't. Because once again, as in "Jefferson in Paris" or "Remains of the Day," Ivory and company is once again attracted to material in which we have characters from another culture, another country, another social strata mixing it up/clashing with those of the home culture: as in "Le Divorce" two American girls loose in Paris sampling all that is good about France: the culture, the food, the leather goods and shoes and of course, the men.
Naomi Watts plays Roxy: a pregnant, stressed, soon to be divorced sister to Kate Hudson's Isabel, who has just dropped out of Film School. Both go to Paris for a respite from their supposedly harried lives in the USA and are, at least on the surface, definitely not looking for romance. But what would a romantic comedy be without Romance and more to the point sex?
Ivory has directed with a very light hand and with his tongue planted very firmly in his cheek. The physical production is first rate but this is no surprise in an Ivory film: the man knows how and where to spend the money so that it has the most impact. Hudson, Watts and Stockard Channing are tres charmant and luminous as always...and by film's end, much wiser.
"Le Divorce" is a French kiss to France at a time when most Americans do not feel terribly pre-disposed to hug, much less kiss a French person. But Ivory has the talent and the wherewithal emotionally to keep the proceedings as light as a Napoleon yet world aware enough to show how serious the underside of a burnt soufflé can be.

Being semi-Kate Hudson fans, my husband and I plucked this movie off the "greatest hits" shelf one evening. What a mistake! Weak story line--we couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be about who would end up with the expensive painting or about Isabel (Hudson) and her 50-something fling. While poor Roxy (Naomi Watts) suffers from the recent rejection of her crumby husband, Isabel (whose intention in visiting her sister was to help her through her pregnancy) self-indulges in her affair with the crumby husband's much older uncle.
One wonders, "what's the point of this film?!" Apparently we're supposed to glean something profound and meaningful from it but it's all so confusing and unlikable. Scenes merge into one another without any explanation of how person A logically wound up in the next scene in that situation with person B. And why was that scene necessary in order to make a story??
This was definitely not a comedy and it was a complete waste of time. Someone must have accidentally placed this movie on the wrong shelf.