How Much Do You Love Me? (2005)

Great Film overall

Excellent adaptation.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

What a great little film. Of course it's about love, but some might perceive love differently than others. If you look at this film, element by element, the music (the operas, the arias), the lighting (which is dark at one point, and incredibly light at the next), the dialogue, the setting, the casting etc., you may find it hard to believe that it all fits together in the end, but it does.Surely some might argue that this film is all about Monica Bellucci, but I beg to differ. She's hot, incredibly so, but there are thousands of women out there in the world. Some even way better looking and probably more sensual. Monica Bellucci fits into this role, because the public, the viewer wants to see her in this specific role of a whore. The role of a whore turned saint, like Mary Magdalene. To most men this is very appealing. This film's the work of Bertrand Blier, who is in fact the master of his craft. Blier made an (in my opinion) exceptional romantic comedy. Almost surreal, because at one point I realized that all the characters were being too honest, except for one little lie. As if everyone was sharing their thoughts, without boundaries. This film makes you laugh (honestly) and then in turn makes you think. Most romantic comedies are shallow and don't say anything at all. I think I'm totally numb when watching another stupid American Rom-com, because it all seems generic. With this, I found myself questioning the director's motives to show the characters in a specific light, from a specific angle. The average rating is far too low. This film has an artistic flair. 7.6/10

In Paris, after winning the lottery, the clerk François (Bernard Campan) goes to a bar in Pigalle and offers one hundred thousand Euros per month to the prostitute Daniela (Monica Bellucci) to live with him until the end of his money. François is a lonely man, with heart problems and Daniela stays with him for eight days. Then, she decides to come back to her man, the mobster Charly (Gérard Depardieu), but she misses François and returns to his place. But once a whore, always a whore.The promising "Combien Tu m'Aimes?" is a great deception: having Monica Bellucci, Gérard Depardieu and Bernard Campan in the cast, and directed by Bertrand Blier, this "dramatic romantic comedy" has a weird development and a confused and disappointing open conclusion. I honestly did not understand the last quarter of this movie, which is simply awful. The screenplay wastes a good and original idea, and the character of Gérard Depardieu is absolutely dull and ridiculous. The beauty of Monica Bellucci, even with forty-one years, is the best this mislead movie can offer. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Por Amor ou Por Dinheiro?" ("For Love or For Money?")

Body (and look!) of Monica Belucci is stunning (as usually), but her role is poor - charming whore who wants to have respect and love, but finding that discovers it boring, escapes back to his soulless gigolo (Depardieu), and misses back her lover's gentle touch, returns to face a truth that he isn't rich... one truly understands frustration of other women at dancing party - "why everybody loves her?!" - again because of that body and those eyes. On the other hand, playing of Campan (Francois) is astonishing, it is probably on of his best roles (regretfully it was my first encounter), though I wish him t have better ones too! overall good movie to watch it once, and I'm sure every man returns to it to observe that beauty, that stunning whore... 7, not more... . Milena was something so much sweeter...

As his earlier film "Merci la vie", "combien tu m'aimes" is Blier's homage to almost unknown Alain Robbe-Grillet films, auteur of the Nouveau Cinema, movies that try to invent a new language or new styles to show stories in cinema. So in this movie actors are shown as actors, they're really acting and don't try to seem natural. In fact they're real accessories to serve the director. He ask them to do whatever he wants and big stars even like Depardieu listen to his orders because he knows that he's a good director that knows what he wants and that he's in control of the movie. But I have to tell that it is a really sexist movie, some women shouldn't watch it because they would be offended. The word "whore" comme at least every minute, and Bellucci is shown as a female object. Sure the movie say that women can manipulate and control men, but at the end of the movie we see that men have the last word. There is some hilarious scenes like the one in the corridor with the neighbor and Bellucci arguing about how women should have an orgasm, and some jouissive scenes for their daring, but there are also some scenes I didn't like because they were maybe 'too much' and useless. Still it's a really enjoyable film to see.