Lucien, the owner of a bookstore in a small town, has a secret ambition: he wants to be a writer. He has written a novel no one has read yet. He shows the unedited work to one of his friends, Mathieu, who happens to be connected, through his father, to a publishing house in Paris. Mathieu goes a step further, he gets Lucien an interview with a prominent editor, the notorious Judith Zahn.
Unknown to Lucien, Judith has not read the book he submitted to the the firm where she is the star editor, or has any intentions of doing so. Instead, she instructs an assistant to send the aspiring author home. In fact, Judith, was visited just before Lucien's appointment by her late father's lover, Marthe, who wants to give her his personal effects. It is clear Judith is shaken because of the untimely arrival of Marthe; she wants nothing to do with the papers of a father she felt abandoned her.
Things conspire to bring Lucien and Judith together, but their relationship will be a roller coaster because she is a neurotic woman who has been around that rarefied atmosphere of hype and back stabbing so prevalent in those circles, thriving in her role of being impossible. What Judith doesn't realize is that Lucien has an ambitious project in mind, he is secretly writing a fictionalized account of her father's adventurous life as a militant of leftist causes.
We enjoyed this fine film, directed by Catherine Corsini, a new talent that impressed us with her previous work. Ms. Corsini also collaborated with the fine screenplay with Cedric Kahn and Benoit Graffin. The result is a movie that involved this viewer from the start, thanks to the director's light touch in this surprising romantic comedy with a twist.
The best thing in the film is Karin Viard, who also played in "La nouvelle Eve"; her take on Judith is perfect. Ms. Viard gives an intelligent and nuanced account of the editor that is forced to face reality and examine her life. She then realizes she has been living a lie, perpetuated by her own mother who never told her the truth about her father.
Equally excellent is Eric Caravaca, who as Lucien, makes quite an impression. This young actor moves effortlessly under Ms. Corsini's direction. Jacques Weber is the television host that has an interest in Judith. Giles Cohen has a funny role as the down-and-out actor friend of Lucien, who in a way, plays the role that changes Judith and humbles her.
Ms. Corsini will definitely go far because she shows a natural talent for pulling the viewer into the stories she wants to tell him.
Unknown to Lucien, Judith has not read the book he submitted to the the firm where she is the star editor, or has any intentions of doing so. Instead, she instructs an assistant to send the aspiring author home. In fact, Judith, was visited just before Lucien's appointment by her late father's lover, Marthe, who wants to give her his personal effects. It is clear Judith is shaken because of the untimely arrival of Marthe; she wants nothing to do with the papers of a father she felt abandoned her.
Things conspire to bring Lucien and Judith together, but their relationship will be a roller coaster because she is a neurotic woman who has been around that rarefied atmosphere of hype and back stabbing so prevalent in those circles, thriving in her role of being impossible. What Judith doesn't realize is that Lucien has an ambitious project in mind, he is secretly writing a fictionalized account of her father's adventurous life as a militant of leftist causes.
We enjoyed this fine film, directed by Catherine Corsini, a new talent that impressed us with her previous work. Ms. Corsini also collaborated with the fine screenplay with Cedric Kahn and Benoit Graffin. The result is a movie that involved this viewer from the start, thanks to the director's light touch in this surprising romantic comedy with a twist.
The best thing in the film is Karin Viard, who also played in "La nouvelle Eve"; her take on Judith is perfect. Ms. Viard gives an intelligent and nuanced account of the editor that is forced to face reality and examine her life. She then realizes she has been living a lie, perpetuated by her own mother who never told her the truth about her father.
Equally excellent is Eric Caravaca, who as Lucien, makes quite an impression. This young actor moves effortlessly under Ms. Corsini's direction. Jacques Weber is the television host that has an interest in Judith. Giles Cohen has a funny role as the down-and-out actor friend of Lucien, who in a way, plays the role that changes Judith and humbles her.
Ms. Corsini will definitely go far because she shows a natural talent for pulling the viewer into the stories she wants to tell him.