| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Gael García Bernal | ... | Stéphane Miroux | |
| Charlotte Gainsbourg | ... | Stéphanie | |
| Alain Chabat | ... | Guy | |
| Miou-Miou | ... | Christine Miroux | |
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Pierre Vaneck | ... | Monsieur Pouchet |
| Emma de Caunes | ... | Zoé | |
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Aurélia Petit | ... | Martine |
| Sacha Bourdo | ... | Serge | |
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Stéphane Metzger | ... | Sylvain |
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Alain de Moyencourt | ... | Gérard (as Decourt Moyen) |
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Inigo Lezzi | ... | Monsieur Persinnet |
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Yvette Petit | ... | Ivana |
| Jean-Michel Bernard | ... | Piano-playing Policeman | |
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Eric Mariotto | ... | Policeman |
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Bertrand Delpierre | ... | Présentateur JT |
Following the death of his father from cancer, Stéphane - Mexican on his father's side, French on his mother's side - agrees, despite his less than proficient use of the French language, on his mother's request to move back to France from Mexico, she not only letting him live in her apartment in his old bedroom in the building she owns while she stays with her current boyfriend Gérard, a magician, but she having found him a job using his graphic art skills at a calendar shop. The job ends up not being quite as she had made it out to be - it more a dead end menial job - but Stéphane is still able to eke out a friendship of sorts with his new coworkers, especially Guy, the senior employee, a bully of a man-child who obsesses about sex and who becomes Stéphane's confidante. Concurrently, Stéphane strikes a friendship with his neighbor, Stéphanie, and her friend, Zoé, Stéphane and their friendship stemming out of some mistruths, including the two artistically inclined women not divulging ... Written by Huggo
This movie had a lot going for it. The art direction was incredibly fun and creative, and overall the movie looked great and had a very unique vision. It was cute and quirky and definitely made me laugh out loud at times while at other times it made me feel awkward and tense in the best possible way.
The dream sequences were fun and blended with reality in a very seamless and engaging way (though on a personal level I prefer the way dreams were portrayed in Waking Life). And while on the surface the love story was thoughtful and true (and I could even relate to it in some ways), the problem for me was that I just couldn't sympathize with Bernal's character, Stéphane. I couldn't really see where Gainsbourg's character, Stéphanie, was coming from either. While their interaction was at times endearing, I just didn't feel like I had to root for them. Still though, there was enough charm in this movie that that fact didn't ruin the movie for me.