Le genre humain - 1ère partie: Les parisiens (2004)

Director:

Claude Lelouch

Writers:

Claude Lelouch (writer)
Pierre Uytterhoeven (writer)

Release Date:

15 September 2004 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Paris France

Cast

Mathilde Seigner	...	Clémentine / Anne
Maïwenn Le Besco	...	Shaa (as Maïwenn)
Arielle Dombasle	...	Sabine Duchemin
Agnès Soral	...	La femme de Pierre
Alessandra Martines	...	Alessandra Martines
Michel Leeb	...	Michaël Gorkini
Massimo Ranieri	...	Massimo
Ticky Holgado	...	Dieu
Francis Perrin	...	Le directeur de la boîte de jazz
Pierre Santini	...	Benhamou, le metteur en scène
Grégori Derangère	...	L'agent immobilier
Constantin Alexandrov	...	Le Parisien complexe
Michèle Bernier	...	La serveuse du Jazz Club
Laurine Bresler		(as Laurine Bressler)
Evelyne Buyle	...	La femme du train

Also Known As:

Le genre humain - Première partie: Les parisiens (France) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

France:119 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

Chateau de Villette, Condecourt, Val-d'Oise, France

Company:

Canal+

Movie Connections:

Followed by Le courage d'aimer (2005)

Not the kind of film that I like.

This is the first film by Claude Lelouche that I have ever seen, but it wasn't to my liking. Either it was way over my head, or it's a lemon. "Les Parisiens" is the collection of very loosely interwoven stories, but it is a far cry from Pasolini's "Decameron" or Robert Altman's "Short Cuts." Only in the second half of the story does the main thread emerge, the story of an Italian street singer (Massimo) who takes on a female shoplifter as his singing partner. They are invited to sing in a bar and enjoy some moderate success as a team. A record producer sees their act and offers the girl a recording contract. She is forced to decide to abandon Massimo and accept the recording contract or to turn it down. She decides to dump Massimo, and gains fame as a single act. Massimo is forced to go solo, but ends up a bigger success than his former partner. She regrets her decision and writes a book detailing her betrayal of Massimo. I found the story rambling, to the point where I dozed off during the first half, something I haven't done in a movie theater since "Peter Pan" when I was 5 years old. The characters all struck me as quite superficial and the story uncompelling. The film did get some applause at the end, and I heard a woman being filmed outside the cinema complex state that she loved the film. I'm glad I got a free ticket to see it because this way I didn't waste my money on it.