Le coût de la vie (2003)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Philippe Le Guay

Writers:

Jean-François Goyet (writer)
Philippe Le Guay (writer)

Release Date:

30 July 2003 (France)

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Fabrice Luchini	...	Brett
Vincent Lindon	...	Coway
Camille Japy	...	Milène
Géraldine Pailhas	...	Helena
Isild Le Besco	...	Laurence
Lorànt Deutsch	...	Patrick
Claude Rich	...	Maurice
Catherine Hosmalin	...	Karine
Nils Hugon	...	Robin
Jean-Claude Leguay	...	Gérard
Fabien Béhar	...	Le manager
Bernard Bloch	...	Richet, l'huissier
Chantal Neuwirth	...	Granny
Xavier De Guillebon	...	Denis
Daniel Martin	...	Eric

Also Known As:

The Cost of Living (International: English title) (USA)

Runtime:

France:100 min | USA:110 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Lyon, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France

Company:

Gimages 6

Soundtrack:

Momma Wol

Intertwined titbits

It's about money as a defining characteristic for a personality hence defining the way people deal with love... and life. [Le Coût de la vie] thus tells the stories of four characters, living in Lyon, inside the same narrative circle and with the recurring concern being the relation between their lives, money and love.

On the whole Brett 'the Scrooge' (Luchini) and Coway 'The Generous Anxious guy' (Lindon) are the more elaborate parts. Well it's always difficult to draw up an original depiction for the scrooge type, or to do well with Vincent Lindon, typecast as the troubled husband, but the actors bring the right emotion to the screen in the right moments. In between those adults proceedings you've got the parts of a junior (Isild Le Besco) and a senior (Claude Rich) character, both more anecdotic even after we're told a little more about them in the end.

Skipping from one story to the other brings a good pace right from the start. It creates a lively atmosphere but it also brings about frustration when you just happen to catch a glimpse from one character to jump to something else. It's like you'd end up flying over all those people not really caring for them, just waiting for some funny thing to happen.

Eventually the big flaw with that kind of narration is you never get somewhere. You got in the train with nice people then you get off: it was a nice trip but not an affair to remember. Once and again a case of "Slices of life vs. slices of cake."