26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delightful French Comedy, February 9, 2009
I've been looking for this title in the US as a gift for my American friends...and it has finally come out !
Since this is the first review, i need to recommend this title heartily !
The movie opened in France a couple of years back with very good reviews and was a nice success...
The storyline :
Luis (Alain Chabat), a fortysomething bachelor, works for a perfume company and is known as a 'nose' (e.g. one who creates perfumes), he has an overbearing family of one mother & five sisters... who think it is about time he got married.
He eventually sets up a plan NOT to get married, hiring one of his colleagues' sister Emma (Charlotte Gainsbourg) for a very peculiar 'job'...
The rest you'll find out renting or buying this DVD !
The performances are delightful throughout, Alain Chabat and Charlotte Gainsbourg (daughter of late french singer Serge Gainsbourg and singer/actress Jane Birkin) bring warmth and wit to their characters, the mother (Bernadette Lafont) is her usual funny self !
The first time i watched it a few scenes had me in stitches !
So... if you're looking for a movie to make you forget your worries for 90mn... This is IT !
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Comedy, August 29, 2009
This is a little French comedy that kind of sneaked up on me, turned out to be funny and romantic, without being sappy. It is pretty typical of popular French films, good ensemble cast, good filming, beautiful locations, sexual tension, and a simple story.
Luis is "the nose" at a perfume company. He is the only son with five sisters and a mother; his father Hercules died when Luis was young. Luis is 42 and unmarried. His sisters and mother not only do his laundry and are essentially his wives; they also rule his life. At dinner they decide it is time for Luis to get married. They place ads for him, chat on line with potential dates, and set him up over and over again. Finally he tires of this, in order to get his sisters and mother off his back, he decides to hire a girl to agree to marry him, but leave him at the altar (in the French case, its not show up at City Hall for the official legal wedding). He hires Emma (Charlotte Gainsbourg). The humor really starts at this time.
I happen to love Charlotte Gainsbourg, the daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. Charlotte has the beauty and subtle sexiness of her mother. Her voice and look is reminiscent of Jane Birkin's singing voice and acting during the 70's. Charlotte delivers a funny and sexy performance in I Do (or Prete-moi Ta Main - literally lend me your hand in marriage). The chemistry builds very slowly with Luis (Alain Chabat, a fairly well known character actor in France). This slow build is just exactly right, its courtship at its best. The sisters are just so funny at telling Luis what to do. The whole cast is pretty decent.
The film is 90 minutes long. The last 20 minutes are a bit long, the film needed to get moving a bit more at the end. Otherwise the pacing was excellent up that point. The scenes in Paris are beautiful. Its worth looking up from the subtitles to study the background - Places des Vosges, Hotel de Ville, and some other random squares. Luis is truly a skinflint at spending money, he drives a very old Peugeot 504, in contrast to the amount of money he actually pays Emma. The framing, movement, and cutting are all work a day standard fare; nothing creative or new, just well done.
I Do is only available in French with English subtitles off or on. The translation is generally pretty good. There was an odd slip when Emma and Luis are talking about money and the French was 3,000 but the subtitle said 5,000. Oh nothing serious.
The film is not rated, but would probably be R for language, sexual references, and a few kinky scenes. There is no nudity. In France, this film is U 'All Audiences.' The DVD contains a few extra features not very worth watching. Deleted scenes, all needed to stay deleted. A goof reel that is edited for the jokes, not funny. A Making Of Featurette about 23 minutes long, very bad. A producers version of the trailer for the film - sort of tells the whole story all the way to the end. And finally previews from Lions Gate.
With some funny jokes. Some good sexual humor. An interesting story that does show how not so bright men can be. A very lovely Charlotte Gainsbourg. Makes for an enjoyable film worth watching.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another evidence about the originality of the French comedy!, May 11, 2009
This clever comedy turns around the pathetic human condition about a mature man (43) who works as "the nose" a term that is used for those like him, designing new aromatic essences, still is single due simply the marriage is not included among his existential priorities.
But his numerous family (composed of five sisters, a dominating mother, four brothers in law) has voted democratically he has to get marry. And so, a set of funny events will take place around this situation. But he has another plan in mind.
An amazing plot will entertain you from start to finish. Amusing, delightful and smart easy to watch comedy. Another jewel of the crown in which concerns creativity in this formidable release of the French Cinema.
Don't miss it. Plenty of laughable situations.
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