Love Songs (2007)
"Les chansons d'amour" (original title)

A musical interpretation of three lovers living in Paris.

Director:

Christophe Honoré

Writer:

Christophe Honoré

Stars:

Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni

4 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Louis Garrel	...	Ismaël Bénoliel
Ludivine Sagnier	...	Julie Pommeraye
Chiara Mastroianni	...	Jeanne
Clotilde Hesme	...	Alice
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet	...	Erwann
Brigitte Roüan	...	La mère de Julie
Alice Butaud	...	Jasmine, la soeur de Julie
Jean-Marie Winling	...	Le père de Julie
Yannick Renier	...	Gwendal
Annabelle Hettmann	...	La serveuse du bar
Esteban Carvajal-Alegria	...	L'ami d'Erwann (as Esteban Carvajal Alegria)
Sylvain Tempier	...	Un policier
Guillaume Clérice	...	Un policier

Storyline

Julie's boyfriend Ismaël lives with her; rather than worry about the time he spends with his colleague Alice, Julie invites Alice to join them. The three walk the streets of Paris, party, read, and sleep together. Sometimes it's lighthearted, sometimes there are jealousies. Then death strikes. In various ways, those left come to terms with the departure and absence of a loved one: showing concern, eating together, attempting new relationships, trying to "be there" for the other. Then, the spirit returns and new commitments are possible. The romantic elements of musical comedy play in contrast to the ambivalence of the lyrics and the story.

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Plot Keywords:

jealousy | death | gay kiss | bare chested male | mother daughter relationship | 

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Genres:

Drama | Musical | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site (German)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

23 May 2007 (France)

Also Known As:

Love Songs

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$20,488 (USA) (21 March 2008)

Gross:

$103,970 (USA) (27 June 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alma Films, Flach Film, Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many dialogs were inspired by Adam Thirlwell's first novel "Politics", which Clotilde Hesme's character reads during the bed scene.

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Quotes

Ismaël Bénoliel: Je suis très mélancolique.

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Connections

References Nobody Knows (2004)

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Soundtracks

"As-tu déjà aimé ?"
Written by Alex Beaupain
Performed by Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Louis Garrel

User Reviews

A contemporary (timeless?) film about human relationships

How to put into words a film with this sensorial density? It's clearly not the simplest task. "Congratulations Christophe Honoré" could be a good approach, maybe the best.

As a Portuguese, a traditional nation in the "European standards", I may say that this film surpasses my bounds when speaking of, let's say, "relational experimentalism". Even so, I found it astoundingly beautiful and I guess that picking-up the gay issue would be to diminish a film about life and what we make of it in our nowadays living.

To have lived in France for over a year, eventually helped me out to remark some interesting French particularities in the characters.

I found the humor in this film to be typically French. There's a scene were Ismael is Wrapping a pillow making a baby of it, asking everybody in the room to remain silent not to wake up the child that had just gotten asleep. Then, unexpectedly, he throws the "baby" right out of the window as he gets tired of the staging. This kind of uncompromising performances, risking the ridiculous, were undoubtedly a "déjà vu" for me.

The music is also a key element in the film and gives it a Parisian melancholical aura. The music is often used by 2 or more characters in the form of a dialog where they show their feelings and points of view. As they sing, the scenes are incredible well filmed either outdoor, in the endless avenues of Paris, or indoor in the cosiness of a warm bed in a cold winter night. Sometimes I felt as I was one of the characters right in the scene.

The anguish, the indecision and above all, the solitude are the marking subjects in a film that exposes in a crude manner how individualistic the society is becoming in France, and why not, in Europe.

It's a contemporary (timeless?) film about human relationships. In my opinion, the antithesis of the blockbuster cinema: The extravagance is replaced by beauty, the free nudity is replaced by sensuality and the easy laugh is avoided. The dialogs are intelligent, complex and they have ambiguous interpretation.

At the end of the movie, a phrase synthesizes it all: "Love me less but for a long time".

To assume the compromise revoking the emotional hurricane brought by fleeting relations will bring peace, at last.