Au plus près du paradis (2002)

Director:

Tonie Marshall

Writers:

Tonie Marshall (scenario and dialogue) and
Anne-Louise Trividic (scenario and dialogue) ...

Release Date:

20 November 2002 (France)

Genre:

Romance

Plot:

People and life can be cruel, and in their face, Fannette is cool: toward an old acquaintance, to her daughter...

Plot Keywords:

Passion | Book | Lost Love | Photographer | Painter

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Catherine Deneuve	...	Fanette
William Hurt	...	Matt
Bernard Le Coq	...	Bernard
Hélène Fillières	...	Lucie
Gilbert Melki	...	Alain
Nathalie Richard	...	Brigitte
Patrice Chéreau	...	Pierre
Noémie Godin-Vigneau	...	Carole
Emmanuelle Devos	...	Jeune femme cinéma
Daniel Pommereulle	...	L'éditeur
François Arnal	...	Himself
Christian Cloarec	...	Videur cinéma
Sebastien Fontaine	...	Le client de la libraire
Paulina Porizkova	...	Mary Rafelson
Thomas Beckett

Also Known As:

Lo más cercano al cielo (Spain)
Nearest to Heaven (International: English title)

Runtime:

90 min | Italy:100 min (Venice Film Festival)

Country:

France | Spain | Canada

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Spain:T | Canada:G

Company:

Canal+

Movie Connections:

Features An Affair to Remember (1957)

Unpretentious fun, gorgeous cities and women...

I just LOVED this movie. Pity I saw it on my (tiny!) TV. I wish I could have seen it in a real theater, on a huge screen. Paris, New York and Deneuve are gorgeous, dialogs and music are fantastic, and the light is beautiful. OK, the story is a little bit patchy, but who cares? You just watch this movie like you read a John Irving novel: you don't care if it's not a masterpiece, you just enjoy it! My biggest problem with this movie was the fact that they decided to dub the second half of the film. Even if Deneuve is dubbing herself quite well, it looks and sounds strange... Maybe Hurt's French wasn't good enough? For the rest, I found that all these "satellites" that evolve around Deneuve are just great: her doctor/lover who comes to check on her heart, her lesbian daughter who seems more mature than her own mother, her colleague who keeps crying because her lover left her (but who can't help noticing Fanette's beautiful shoes), her alcoholic brother whom she doesn't judge. And all these bits and pieces from Leo McCarey's 'An Affair to Remember'... The beauty of the film comes from this amazing paradox: it's a star who plays this 'weak' and lonely woman who is herself fascinated by movie stars. A beautiful present to a beautiful actress.