Bellamy - Claude Chabrol (2009)

This poster is quite nice. The idea of this film is quite interesting: a policeman on holidays gets involved with a case out of curiosity. The policeman is Gerard Depardieu, the director is Chabrol. It sounds promising. Well I felt cheated. Instead of it becoming interesting it becomes boring. The problem isn't that it's slow, the problem is that there isn't enough there... There are also certain uses of zoom. I hate zooms, but it can be tolerable in certain films. Not in this case.

I'm disappointed. Maybe I should have expected less of Chabrol.

Bellamy

My afternoons with Margueritte - Jean Becker (2010)

What does this still say?

A big overweight Frenchman sits in a park with an adorable old lady, surrounded by pidgeons. We can already sense he's not very bright and she's very distinguished. They read and develop a friendship that would change them both.

That's it. That's the film.If you expect a small feel-good French film, that's what it is. Nicely acted - Depardieu is meassured, unlike the also not very bright Quentin from Tas-toi!, his character is likeable (to me he now seems a little dodgy after his plane incident). Correctly filmed. Nothing more than that.

Also, it isn't excessively sweetened or full of unrealistic hopes. Sometimes we need films like this to pass the time.

La tête en friche