Comment je me suis disputé... (ma vie sexuelle) (1996)

Director:

Arnaud Desplechin

Writers:

Emmanuel Bourdieu (writer)
Arnaud Desplechin (writer)

Release Date:

17 September 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Plot:

Paul Dedalus is at a crossroads in his life. He has to make several decisions; should he complete his doctorate...

Plot Keywords:

Shower Scene | Sex | Female Nudity

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Mathieu Amalric	...	Paul Dedalus
Emmanuelle Devos	...	Esther
Emmanuel Salinger	...	Nathan
Marianne Denicourt	...	Sylvia
Thibault de Montalembert	...	Bob
Chiara Mastroianni	...	Patricia
Denis Podalydès	...	Jean-Jacques
Jeanne Balibar	...	Valérie
Fabrice Desplechin	...	Ivan
Hélène Lapiower	...	Le Mérou
Michel Vuillermoz	...	Frédéric Rabier
Roland Amstutz	...	Chernov
Marion Cotillard	...	Student
Solenn Jarniou	...	Pascale
Philippe Duclos	...	Spiritual Accompanist

Also Known As:

Ma vie sexuelle (UK) (video title)
Ma vie sexuelle - Paul Dedalus' Journey (UK) (DVD box title)
My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument (USA)

Runtime:

178 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15 | France:U

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

France 2 Cinéma

Trivia:

Director Arnaud Desplechin originally wanted to name the movie "Comment je me suis disputé avec Éric Barbier" (How I Got Into An Argument With Eric Barbier), as a dig at former colleague Eric Barbier, also the basis for movie character Frédéric Rabier. A justice decision prevented him from using the full title, hence the ellipsis and the added subtitle.

Soundtrack:

Waltz for Debby

The French cinema in decline

In my comments on "J'embrasse Pas", a film I much admire, I mentioned the decline of the French cinema in recent years. As an example to substantiate this, look no further than "Ma Vie Sexuelle", a work of gargantuan proportions (3 hours running time) that for me fails to transcend the commonplace it seems to be celebrating and becomes trapped in inertia. On the surface much of it is not unlike a Rohmer film. There is a group of young people living in Paris. Paul, the central character is a University tutor. There are at least three young woman in his life and he moves from one to another indecisively. There are endless scenes in cafes, in one anothers' apartments and at parties; the very stuff of Rohmer. The Master, however, would have made it last half the time with several times the degree of perception. "Ma Vie Sexuelle", on the other hand, has a curious lack of purpose, often losing its sense of directional balance. What to make of the two flashbacks to Paul's childhood that seem to add nothing to our knowledge of his character? And then there is the strange figure of Rabier, a senior lecturer whose return to the University seems to fill Paul with unease over his inadequacy to cope with professional life. Presumably he is intended to play a pivotal role like one of Iris Murdoch's "enchanters". But how can he when he is depicted as a quirky idiot who goes everywhere with a pet monkey? The sudden change of mood to black comedy when the monkey becomes trapped behind a radiator is curiously at variance with the rest of the film. There is a background score that, with its suggestion of unease, would fit better in a Chabrol thriller than these mundane goings-on. To add to all the muddled pretentiousness there is a voice-over narrative so beloved by earlier French masters such as Resnais and Truffaut but here there is nothing perceptive in what is said. It simply supplies the connections that the Taiwanese masters, Hou Xiaoxian and Edward Yang, would have demanded far more subtly we make for ourselves. The film is thus a mishmash of influences completely lacking a sense of individuality. Let those in search of titillation from a film so entitled beware. "La Vie Sexuelle" is almost puritanically staid. It belongs to a much older Wave than the New.