Customer Reviews

God Is Great, and I'm Not

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a simple yet complex French film about relationships and finding a faith that one can stick to.

The incomparable Audrey Tautou stars in this lightly serious film and portrays a young model who is struggling with her faith, both in herself and with God. Her relationship with a man has ended and she suffers from a broken heart and a lost soul when she meets a handsome veterinarian (played by Edouard Baer) and begins the quest of falling back in love with something. She stars out a semi-Buddhist and upon meeting Baer feels the need to show him his Jewish roots, convincing him they should become a couple of practicing Jews, before they get married, by taking classes with a local Rabbi. It is an interesting look at how easily faith can be lost and found depending on one's self worth and life circumstances.

This little film is fun to watch and has a very appealing content attached to it but I found myself irritated by the camera work, it jittered and moved around like a camcorder in the hands of an amateur. Audrey Tautou has that childlike grace that offers a camera such depth if it holds her in close-up for longer than a second but her beauty was lost in this project. Instead of being a deeply introspective character in search of something better than herself Tautou just races around flittering about in a camera lens unable to spotlight the message in this story. It could have been great with a little more focus!

In my opinion, there are two reasons to watch this film. One, because of Audrey Tautou, and two, if one looks at this as a Jewish genre film. If one has no interest in either, just pass on the film.

As for Tautou, even if the film just had her searching for the best flavor of Jello, it would be worth watching. There just are some actors who have such a screen presence, one could even turn off the sound and enjoy them. Audrey qualifies. She is just so cute and quirky.

As for a Jewish genre film, scholars do look for deeper reasons for the romantic attraction of Jews and non-Jews. This film takes a look at one such situation, and by doing so, makes one think deeper on the subject, if one is inclined to do so. As such, I do think the film shined, as it was interesting and entertaining to watch the couple's relationship unfold.

I really can't argue with a lot of the criticisms of "God is Great, I'm Not". But, for the above two reasons, I really liked it.

Some call it a romantic comedy. For a romantic comedy, however, 'God Is Great, And I'm Not' sounds very strange, isn't it? Well, the contents of the film are not as strange as the title suggests, but the film itself is, I have to say, far from perfect. Not that it is not amusing. Just it feels like going on and on and on....

Now the story is about Michelle (played by lovely, adorable Audrey Tautou), who is in love with a vet Francois (about 10 years older). And the story is ... er, that's it. She is in love with him, and the script describes the various episodes concerning the love relations between the two characters over one year. It borrows the style of a diary presumably written by Michelle, who records every details about her love, her family, her jobs, and ... her love.

So, don't expect the traditional storytelling style. If you need a sense of closure for your film (like 'Happily Ever After' ending), you might as well skip this one and see 'Amelie' again. The relations between the two neither develops nor dissolves. It goes round and round, and perhaps that's the point.

I admit there are several interesting, and emotionally charged moments in the film. Still, it is very demanding to follow the endless 'story' and apparently superficial behaviours of the characters, that of Michelle in particular, but I think that is the film's intention. Michelle considers conversion simply because her Francois is Jewish (while Francois does not demand it, and is not a devoted believer of any religion himself). Michelle's actions are often superficial, or Michelle IS superficial, reading many books about religion.

OK, but what worries me constantly is, by just tracing Michelle and other characters's superficial behaviours, the film itself, which lacks the sure footing to observe them (fondly or detachedly), becomes superficial too. To make matters worse, director Pascale Bailly uses many irritating camera works trying to impress us, such as jump-cuts or voiceovers. Soemtimes the camera floats in the air, rotating to and fro when a more orthodox way of shooting is necessary. Do you need the 'French New Wave' school when you want to see a love romance? I don't think so.

THE ONLY CHARM of the film comes, not surprisingly, from Audrey Tautou. Her character is fashion model, and to justify the setting, she changes her clothes and hairstyles every time she appears on the screen. Even among the repetitous, ultimately boring series of episodes, she continues to enchant us with her acting, and that is nearly a miracle. But we had already seen the real miracle in 'Amelie,' and we need that kind of irresistible magic, which is based on the firm confidence in the time-honoured, orthodox, girl-meets-boy love story.

Audrey Tautou captured worldwide attention as the gamine heroine of "Amelie." Now in lightweight comedy "God is Great, And I'm Not," Tautou tackles a rather more neurotic kind of romantic story, a frothy take on religion and love.

Michèle (Tautou) is a model without much direction in her life in the aftermath of a bad breakup and an abortion. Depressed, she abandons Catholicism and tries Buddhism, but that falls through as well. Then she meets François (Edouard Baer), a veterinarion who is Jewish. Though he's nonpracticing, Michèle becomes determined to convert to Judaism.

And like many converts, she develops a sort of religious fervor, even chastising her lover for failing to be devout enough. She's driving him up the wall with her enthusiasm. Things get even more complicated when François's family arrives from Israel, and Michèle discovers something that may complicate their relationship even further...

"God is Great And I'm Not" (original French title: "Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite") is a cute comedy, fluffy and not too serious. The religious angle of the film, surprisingly, doesn't weigh it down at all -- it's just a sort of focal point for Michèle's obsessions. Her attitudes toward other religions are just as funny (like falling asleep during meditation -- a definite no-no).

The storyline is thin, and as a result the plot tends to chase its own tail to eat up time. Pascale Bailly is also a bit awkward with this story, trying to make the editing seem quirky. Instead it seems choppy and self-conscious. She has a pretty good idea of how to create cute little jokes and conflicts (the cigarette lighting), however, and keep our interest in Michèle and François going.

Tautou keeps the movie afloat through the rough spots. Even though Michèle is something of a ditz, the actress keeps her likable and sympathetic, as she searches for meaning in her life and stumbles over her own feet. Edouard Baer mainly gets to show irritation toward Michèle, but Baer does what he can with his stressed character.

Religious fervor has rarely been so weird as in "God is Great And I'm Not." Unsteady editing and a thin storyline would have sunk this with a worse lead, but with the talented Tautou leading it becomes a sweet, slightly fitful comedy.

'Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite' is a little film by Pascale Bailly that spends a lot of time trying to tell a story in bits and pieces with numerous characters, interesting in and of themselves but confusing to the viewer, attempting to keep up with the breakneck speed of this French comedy. The saving grace is the presence of Audrey Tautou and a few other actors whose screen magnetism holds our interest.

Fresh from a breakup with a boyfriend Bertand (Mathieu Demy) top model Michèle (Tautou) is a wreck of a person flirting with all manner of religious outlets (Hindu, Buddhism, Catholicism, etc) trying to find something to make her crazy life make sense. She encounters a veterinarian François (Edouard Baer) who is a secular Jew (non-practicing, closeted, etc) and not only does she fall immediately into bed with him (and a next morning attempted suicide!) she begins to stalk him trying to embrace Judaism - a fact that at first drives François away and then a little mad himself. The manner in which Michèle and François study Judaism and all its graces and restrictions is (I think) the basis for the rest of the story: the filming technique of flashbacks and fragmentary moments and cutesy scribblings on pages are paced to confuse and make this simple story a maze to follow!

Along the way we meet some interesting types including Valérie (Julie Depardieu) who opens her door to her first psychology patient (Thierry Neuvic) and promptly falls in love with him; Ali (Atmen Kelif) who is Michèle's nutty fashion photographer and a number of others. There are funny moments, touching moments, absurd moments, but they are loosely strung together. In the end this is a fun film in which it is a bit trying to connect all the dots! In French, English, and Hebrew with subtitles. Grady Harp, September 05

I thought this was going to be an interesting movie. I've seen most of Audrey's movies and this one has to be the worse so far. It is pretty boring, slow moving, and the plots just doesn't grab you. Similar themes are explored through her other movies, but are done much better. it doesn't have the effect that any of her other movies have. It's just a rather strange movie,that I don't plan on watching again.

Audrey Tautou is one of my favorite French actresses, and that is the reason why I decided to watch this film. I remember that before renting "God Is Great, and I'm Not" ("Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite") I thought that if Tatou was in a movie, the movie couldn't be too bad. I don't believe that anymore. She is a wonderful and incredibly charismatic actress, but she can make mistakes, and this is one.

In this film Tatou plays Michelle, a beautiful young woman that works as a model and wants to find the inner balance she lacks in a religion. That is the reason why she goes from being Catholic to Buddhist, and then ponders the idea of converting to Judaism as she falls in love with Francois (Edouard Baer), a secular Jew. The problem is that, after some time, Francois is not "Jew enough" for her, something to be expected as Michelle is given to extremes. That wreaks havoc on their relationship, something that this film shows to perfection.

Now, why do I have problems with "God Is Great, and I'm Not"? Why don't I like is as much as "Amélie", if the plot I just talked about isn't contrived or trite? From my point of view, the reasons are many, but I will save you some time and just point out the more important one, that is that this film seems unfinished. I am not talking about an open ending (like the ending of Rohmer's "A summer tale", a film I love), but rather about the kind of ending that makes you wonder whether the dvd you rented is a fake copy that lacks part of the film you just finished watching. Have you ever felt like that? Then you can understand how I felt after spending more than an hour and half watching this film... Not recommended.

Belen Alcat

It looks like it might be a decent movie, but the camera work; constant starting and stopping, jiggling of the camera and odd angles was giving me motion sickness and I couldn't concentrate on the story. I gave up about 15 minutes in. It was just annoying more than anything. There are much better films with this actress it them.

The enchanting gamine Audrey Tautou (Amelie, Dirty Pretty Things) stars in a flashy portrait of a despondent fashion model who has ended a bad relationship, experienced an abortion, abandoned her Catholicism and is on a spiritual quest for something more. She dabbles with and drops Buddhism and then finds and falls for Jewish veterinarian Francois. This lightweight, neurotic, romantic comedy plays with popular concepts of religion and love and brilliantly captures how couples fail to clearly communicate their desires and dreams, needs and wants. Not nearly as heavy as it sounds, I liked the central notion of a character seeking "something more" and the implied question: What is satisfaction? In French with English subtitles.

Audrey Tatou is exceptional!

'God is Great' shows Tatou, once again, in the shoes of an exquisitely quirky, young woman seeking enlightenment. Her on again - off again boyfriend, Francois, is a non-practicing Jew. Tatou decides to convert herself in order to convert him, more or less.

In the story's journey, Michelle (Tatou) and Francois break up and get back together several times, and show that some things are just beyond the reaches of faith. Sometimes, people need each other despite their differences. You can't live with them, but you most definitely can't live without them, either.

Overall, 'God is Great' was a beautiful film with deeper sentiment.