Christophe Honoré goes epic in a tale of interlocking lives that owes a debt to Jacques Demy. It won't be to everyone's taste but it's playful enough to win us over.
Alex Beaupain’s songs effectively convey emotion, but Beloved doesn’t scale the heights of the Truffaut and Demy films it pastiches.
The result is a sprawling, messily ambitious epic of unrequited love and unfulfilled hearts that is lent an added poignancy by the casting of Mastroianni's mother Catherine Deneuve as the older Madeleine and by all the cinematic ghosts that accompany her appearance.
Christophe Honoré’s delivers on his promises and provides a captivating film that just needs the fat trimming.
How you react to this film by Christophe Honoré may depend on how you react to its male star Louis Garrel. For me, the brooding Garrel is pretty insufferable, but his mannerisms are at least reasonably in check here.
The result is an elegiac tale of love and death with the bonus of Catherine Deneuve as the older Madeleine.
Just about watchable, despite a strong whiff of self-absorption.
Those who like Beloved will file it under guilty pleasures.
Despite charming performances from the principal cast, it’s neither as light on its feet as it could be or as deep as should be.
Activist actor Harry Belafonte is clearly a good egg, but Susanne Rostock’s profile topples into hagiography.
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday June 8, 2012, until Thursday June 14, 2012. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow from Friday June 8, 2012, until Sunday June 10, 2012. More info: http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/