Lorna Irvine reviews 'a bit of a risible mess'.
If ever there was a film trope common to French cinema, it's the classic love triangle. From Jules et Jim to Un Coeur en Hiver, there is little that so beautifully sums up Gallic drama like existentialist angst, Gauloise cigarettes and people cheating.
Sadly, Benoit Jacquot's melodrama brings nothing new to the genre. It is a bit of a risible mess, frankly.
A bourgeois antique dealing family are torn apart when first Sylvie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) then her older sister Sophie (Chiara Mastroianni) are romanced by the same man, a stressed but garrulous tax inspector, Marc (Benoit Poelvoorde). Both sisters, although very close, are unaware of the fact that they are effectively sharing him, until Sophie and Marc wed.
A thin subplot meanwhile sees Marc investigating the mayor's dodgy finances, and this coincides with Marc tiring of married life.
It's all very join-the-dots, not helped by a faintly ridiculous score by Bruno Coulais, more akin to horror film music with doomy chords and heartbeats.
It's not as though the acting is bad. Poelvoorde is excellent as the overwhelmed man running on empty, with Gainsbourg doing her usual distrait, melancholic waif nicely--she is always compelling to watch.
But the script is as flimsy as its set-up is contrived. There is nobody to warm to, as each character is either intensely stupid or dislikable. Even Catherine Deneuve as the matriarch is given little to do except eat, smoke and look imperious (tough gig).
A waste of talent and almost at times slipping into parody, this is one film where people create conflict for themselves and it's hard to care about their respective fates.
Bof!
Dir: Benoit Jacquot,Germany/Belgium/France 2014,1hr 46mins
Three Hearts Trailer | Festival 2014: http://youtu.be/qSsM7Fh7rwM
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