The movie has a great tempo and from start to end you feel that this is a true story, showing a family's love and its all troubles. A loving and funny story
3 Reviews
Excellent movie!
sevgiikinci17 March 2019
A heart warming comedy about failed lives.
m-de-werd6 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
I felt obliged to write a review when I saw the low rating. For me it a great example how to make a comedy about a sad theme - something the French probably know to make better than any other nation. However the end also reminded me of the La notte di Cabiria of Fellini.
The film deals with three siblings who all seem to have failed in life. The eldest sister Gabrielle earns her money as a living statue and tries to raise her son Solal alone. Solal is not satisfied with his mother's unsteady life and wants to live with his father, although he hardly knows him. The younger sister Elsa is a frustrated social worker and desperately tries to get pregnant by her husband Tom. The brother Mao is a successful designer of computer games, but is unable to cope with life and is in psychiatric treatment. As a child he stopped talking to his mother and only communicated with his teddy bear.
Whereas the Pierre, the father of the three was mostly absent, the mother Claudine is a psychiatrist and especially Elsa accuses her that she always talked to her like a psychiatrist. The film starts with the funeral of Pierre's father, the family tyrant. His widow Mamie is suffering of dementia and doesn't even knows her own son. Very much against the will of her brother Elsa decides that she and her sibling will take care of their grandmother so that she won't be sent to a retirement home. Of the chaos in the life of the three even gets bigger. However Mamie also gives them new hope. She dreams of going to Saint Julien. The time that the siblings spent there together seems to be more of less the only positive memory of their youth.
Things only gets worse. Solal moves to his father, much to the disdain of his mother Gabrielle who desperately tries to find a more stable job. Elsa is left by her understanding husband Tom and Mao fails when he tries to commit suicide. However in their misery the three find together and decide to take their grandmother to Saint Julien. But then Mamie dies. At the funeral all meet and embrace, but nothing is solved. Solal doesn't return to his mother and Tom and Elsa don't get together again.
Nevertheless Gabrielle, Elsa and Mao go to Saint Julien without Mamie and they want reconstruct that photo of the three of them as children. They put on children's clothes and Mao has a teddy bear. Even this goes wrong, because the owner of the garden chases them away, but the three have a big laugh. This seems to be the powerful message of the film. Even if everything goes wrong, you can still enjoy life.
The film deals with three siblings who all seem to have failed in life. The eldest sister Gabrielle earns her money as a living statue and tries to raise her son Solal alone. Solal is not satisfied with his mother's unsteady life and wants to live with his father, although he hardly knows him. The younger sister Elsa is a frustrated social worker and desperately tries to get pregnant by her husband Tom. The brother Mao is a successful designer of computer games, but is unable to cope with life and is in psychiatric treatment. As a child he stopped talking to his mother and only communicated with his teddy bear.
Whereas the Pierre, the father of the three was mostly absent, the mother Claudine is a psychiatrist and especially Elsa accuses her that she always talked to her like a psychiatrist. The film starts with the funeral of Pierre's father, the family tyrant. His widow Mamie is suffering of dementia and doesn't even knows her own son. Very much against the will of her brother Elsa decides that she and her sibling will take care of their grandmother so that she won't be sent to a retirement home. Of the chaos in the life of the three even gets bigger. However Mamie also gives them new hope. She dreams of going to Saint Julien. The time that the siblings spent there together seems to be more of less the only positive memory of their youth.
Things only gets worse. Solal moves to his father, much to the disdain of his mother Gabrielle who desperately tries to find a more stable job. Elsa is left by her understanding husband Tom and Mao fails when he tries to commit suicide. However in their misery the three find together and decide to take their grandmother to Saint Julien. But then Mamie dies. At the funeral all meet and embrace, but nothing is solved. Solal doesn't return to his mother and Tom and Elsa don't get together again.
Nevertheless Gabrielle, Elsa and Mao go to Saint Julien without Mamie and they want reconstruct that photo of the three of them as children. They put on children's clothes and Mao has a teddy bear. Even this goes wrong, because the owner of the garden chases them away, but the three have a big laugh. This seems to be the powerful message of the film. Even if everything goes wrong, you can still enjoy life.
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