Marius and Jeannette (1997)

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

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.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I'm not sure why this movie garnered such hostile reviews on here. I gather it was assigned in some class and that the students did not like it. I also gather that it was presented with a Marxist perspective, which is unfortunate.This movie doesn't have much in the way of social commentary. It is the unremarkable story of a group of individuals in a poor neighborhood in Marseilles. They are all basically likable, which works for awhile. By the second half of the movie, though, there don't seem to be enough ideas to justify going on. The ending seems like a made-for-TV movie.Not a movie worth going out of your way for. Pleasant, but, I suspect, at least for me, almost instantly forgettable.

The film being a HSC study text probably doesn't help its cause, but soon after I starting watching I was wishing the board of studies had chosen a more entertaining text.The "action" (if the cinematic ramblings of a nostalgic director can be labelled as such) takes place in the working class suburb of l'Estaque in the south of France. The plot is simple - the titular characters fall in love, clichéd plot devices pull them apart, before getting back together for a feel-good ending. All wonderfully bland and formulaic.The only difference here is that there is a variety of interesting (but pointless) side-characters and subplots around them, sometimes genuinely good as individual scenes but always jarringly disjointed.And here is the film's main fault: there is a lot of potential within the quirky neighbours, but they are reduced to little more than unrelated vignettes that simply distract from the main story.By themselves, unrelated vignettes would have been fine - as would a bland romance.But by mixing the two, director Robert Gediguian creates an unappetising sludge that is messy, meandering and boring - a crime with such potentially interesting characters to explore.

"Marius and Jeannette" is a movie from Robert Guédiguian, a filmmaker who has almost always worked with the same actors. More important, this film that is supposed to be a tribute to the world of Marcel Pagnol was an unexpected success at the French box-office. I must admit that don't share this enthusiasm from the public at all. I would have liked not to have reserves about Guédiguian's work but it is impossible. I consider "Marius and Jeannette" as a really trite love story that takes in a popular district of Marseille (it is useful to add that all Guédiguian's works take place in this big French city). Trite, because it follows a classical outline: meeting, love affair, misunderstanding, separation and reconciliation. Moreover, there's ponderousness in Guédiguian's style and it is particularly true when the film turns to comedy. Due to this characteristic, it is nearly impossible to laugh honestly in the moments supposed to be funny.In fact, the disappointment from "Marius and Jeannette" mostly lies in its screenplay. For example, it doesn't avoid vulgarity (when Marius shows his bottom in the bar) and doesn't exclude implausibilities either: Jeannette's daughter wants to go to Paris to study journalism. A good idea as long as you work hard enough to fulfill one's dream. But here, you don't see her opening a book or studying! In another hand, the clichés linked to any love story haven't been forgotten: throughout the story, we learn that Marius' former wife died in a car crash. An annoying point: the music. Too overwhelming and clumsily used in the way it badly suits to the atmosphere of certain scenes.All right, Robert Guédiguian introduces his characters with a lot of affection and tenderness (particularly Marius) but it is not sufficient enough to make this movie pleasant. Quite obviously, the director isn't gifted to shot a comedy based on a love story. He is more at ease and convincing when it comes to make a gritty and realistic representation of Marseille. Try "La Ville est Tranquille" (2000) for instead.

This movie kind of reminded me of a cross between "Life is Sweet" (a humorous examination of the lower-middle class), "The Bridges of Madison County" (an examination of how middle aged people actually continue to have libidos and emotions), and a random French romantic love farce.The director tries to give this film a political slant, showing the perils of capitalism in favor of socialism, and dedicates this film "to all of the workers of the world." Ignore it. Focus instead on the characters, most of whom are people much like people you have met in your life, with French sensibilities. The love story between the main characters is basically an excuse to get to know this small community of neighbors and show how they interact.This is not one of the great films of all time, but I enjoyed it. It was a pleasant way to spend a little under two hours.