Le Divorce might have something with it's attempt at an in-depth look at personal relationships, emotions, and everything that goes along with life. We see everything from birth to death, marriage to divorce, love to hate, it shows us the human condition but unfortunately in a manner that is completely confusing and utterly lost. They try to mainstream the film with significant Hollywood actors but the film is already lost with the script.
Le Divorce begins with Roxeanne De Persand, and her little girl, and her husband. She arrives home from the market one day and is completely blind sided by the fact that her husband is walking out on her with no previous explanation. She is five months pregnant and begs him to stay but he leaves. At the same time Roxy's half sister Isabel Walker is arriving to visit and arrives just in time for the departure of her brother-in-law. She consoles Roxy the best she can but Roxy is devastated and now her husband is filing for an immediate divorce and the division 50% of all the assets including a possibly beautiful antique painting that has been in Roxy and Isabel's family for generations. Isabel eventually discovers that Roxy's husband has a new girlfriend that he has fallen desperately in love with and wishes to marry immediately. She also has a husband who is livid about her leaving him and for some reason blames Roxy for not holding on to her husband. Meanwhile Isabel gets a job with an American writer, helping her sort files, and she gets involved with one of the writer's friends. While in bed with this "friend" she sees Roxanne's husband's Uncle on Television, "Uncle Edgar", he's older, charming, sophisticated, political and also, unannounced to her, a womanizer. Isabel meets with him and begins an affair despite warnings from past mistresses and eventually even his wife. Roxanne and Isabel's parents and brother come to join them in France and they are introduced to the French culture and the issues that their daughters are having. Everything comes to a close when Edgar ends his affair with Isabel, Roxanne's husband is murdered by his girlfriends husband, and their infamous painting sells for millions.
The characters in the film are so shallow and written with no pizazz that you just don't care about any of them. The story is there but it never breaks past the surface. Director and writer James Ivory never seems to go into any depth with any of the characters or the storyline. I would like to read the book sometime and see if the book goes into any detail. It just felt like the movie was missing portions. It took me most of the movie to finally figure out that "Uncle Edgar" was only a relative by marriage and she wasn't having some incestuous affair. Kate Hudson's character was vapid, shallow and more or less a whore. The only redeeming, but entirely brief performance was by Naomi Watts who showed some emotion and some depth but the story and script never let her go anywhere with it. The film covers such a wide range of human condition that it's an interesting premise but it loses something in translation. Unless you're a huge french culture buff or a fan of Naomi Watts steer clear of this one. 4/10
Le Divorce begins with Roxeanne De Persand, and her little girl, and her husband. She arrives home from the market one day and is completely blind sided by the fact that her husband is walking out on her with no previous explanation. She is five months pregnant and begs him to stay but he leaves. At the same time Roxy's half sister Isabel Walker is arriving to visit and arrives just in time for the departure of her brother-in-law. She consoles Roxy the best she can but Roxy is devastated and now her husband is filing for an immediate divorce and the division 50% of all the assets including a possibly beautiful antique painting that has been in Roxy and Isabel's family for generations. Isabel eventually discovers that Roxy's husband has a new girlfriend that he has fallen desperately in love with and wishes to marry immediately. She also has a husband who is livid about her leaving him and for some reason blames Roxy for not holding on to her husband. Meanwhile Isabel gets a job with an American writer, helping her sort files, and she gets involved with one of the writer's friends. While in bed with this "friend" she sees Roxanne's husband's Uncle on Television, "Uncle Edgar", he's older, charming, sophisticated, political and also, unannounced to her, a womanizer. Isabel meets with him and begins an affair despite warnings from past mistresses and eventually even his wife. Roxanne and Isabel's parents and brother come to join them in France and they are introduced to the French culture and the issues that their daughters are having. Everything comes to a close when Edgar ends his affair with Isabel, Roxanne's husband is murdered by his girlfriends husband, and their infamous painting sells for millions.
The characters in the film are so shallow and written with no pizazz that you just don't care about any of them. The story is there but it never breaks past the surface. Director and writer James Ivory never seems to go into any depth with any of the characters or the storyline. I would like to read the book sometime and see if the book goes into any detail. It just felt like the movie was missing portions. It took me most of the movie to finally figure out that "Uncle Edgar" was only a relative by marriage and she wasn't having some incestuous affair. Kate Hudson's character was vapid, shallow and more or less a whore. The only redeeming, but entirely brief performance was by Naomi Watts who showed some emotion and some depth but the story and script never let her go anywhere with it. The film covers such a wide range of human condition that it's an interesting premise but it loses something in translation. Unless you're a huge french culture buff or a fan of Naomi Watts steer clear of this one. 4/10