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Simply Perfect

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Firstly, I watched this film online, so I watched in two parts. I have no patience to watch films longer than 90 minutes in one go, regardless of the quality. I really like the film and the characters, there is not much story, but to me this is just about watching a group of friends interact. There may not be much background to how they act, but that is how things are with friends that you have known for years. Some have mentioned this was all a bit too French, with various clichés throughout. But having spent a summer with French friends in a similar house at the Bordeaux coast, I must say, this is just what it's really like in France. From clothing, to food to kissing everybody all the time. This is real people. Or at least in the social circle I was in.All in all, i really liked it. But maybe I was just being nostalgic.

Guillaume Canet (the French guy in The Beach, but with many other acting and directing credits) writes and directs an excellent cast in a languid tale that wonders through the lives and relationships of a group of friends holidaying in the beautiful surroundings of Cap Ferret. The mix of characters and temperaments is played nicely by an engaging collection of thesps Francaise including Marion Cotillard, Francois Cluzet, Gilles Lellouche and Jean Dujardin, and Canet gives the main characters plenty to do, with various parallel story threads pulling them together, these threads mingle to coax the film forward, but at a pace consistent with that feeling of being on holiday when nothing has quite the same imperative as it does in the world of work. Canet guides proceedings ably toward the denouements of the various strands with a gentle touch, and there is a nice variation in tone throughout, with moments of real passion, drama, comedy and conflict, perhaps tending to melodrama in places, but without tipping over into multiple Kleenex territory. Events are brought together effectively in the third act, and Canet and his cast deliver an emotional conclusion that is highly satisfying, and you might need that hankie at the end after all.

Little White Lies (Les Petits Mouchoirs) is a uniquely French ensemble film that thinks it's the Gallic version of The Big Chill. Those who love French films will be entertained, but I couldn't get past one early improbable scene that buttresses one of several plot lines. Tant pis.The movie follows a group of middle-aged friends who follow through on their vacation plans after one of them, Ludo (Jean Dujardin, who has about as many lines as he did in The Artist), is critically injured in a car crash. Their dilemma is very inconvenient and quickly resolved. They rationalize that a beachside toast to Ludo will have a greater net benefit than keeping vigil in Paris so off they go.Regular fellow Movie Snobs know I don't write book reports so I'm not going to break down each character and plot point. Suffice it to say that the group of friends are typical Parisian "bobos" (bourgeois and bohemian yuppies). They are wonderfully French in that the clique was formed by individuals rather than external status, which is my experience with Americans. The group is multi-generational; not everyone is at the same stage of relationship, and not everyone has children. The kids, by the way, are not left at home; they are made to feel welcome by all. I wonder if this is why they are better behaved than the brats I encounter at the mall….Enfin bref.However, the adults in this movie don't behave all that well. The title refers to all the little moments in life wherein one lies inconsequentially to their friends as each of the main characters do. I think the director Guillaume Canet (husband of co-star Marion Cotillard) wants to encourage a discussion of morality: These characters all lie to their friends to maintain an image they believe they have cultivated with their friends. But this is a tight-knit group, so everyone sees through each other, yet they still lie, even when they are caught. Pourquoi? I can't answer that because I don't lie to my friends (only family). I don't think my lack of sympathy is due to a cultural gap (almost every show on Bravo shows people lying to each other while being filmed). My reaction though is consistent with the emotional dissonance I felt early on.Vincent (Benoît Magimel) invites his friend Max (François Cluzet from The Intouchables) to dinner at Max's hotel for a talk. They've been friends for fifteen years, and only recently Vincent has been feeling attracted to Max. Vincent assures Max that he's not gay, who, understandably, is unconvinced. This was not a spontaneous confession one could blame on alcohol. This has been on Vincent's mind for awhile.Who does this? Homosexuality aside, when someone develops feelings for a friend who is unavailable, don't they tell everyone but that person? What is the object of their affection supposed to do with this information? I have trouble believing that Vincent thought Max would reveal he felt the same way or that their friendship would not be forever changed. Vincent himself is married and believes getting married "too young" is justification for his feelings. Living a lie with another person is not a "little white lie."The emotional disconnect is echoed in the film's incongruous soundtrack: late 60s American rock that screams "This movie is just like The Big Chill!" I can suspend my cynicism to think the song choices (Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival) were blatant grabs for American ticket sales, but I don't think this movie will come close to being the box office hit it was in France in 2010.

French movies tend to be deeper than American films. There is an unwritten law that we get to know the characters much better, and it is almost guaranteed the acting is going to be usually very good. "Lies" has some of the most recognizable faces in contemporary French cinema, and it promises to be an insightful look at friendship, I suppose from the French point of view. It is about friendship and communication, and it does manage to cross cultural barriers because in the end, we're pretty much alike.The premise behind the story has been explored before, but as I mentioned before, we are going to see some sophisticated approaches here, and in one of its shortcomings, the film does run a little long. It could have benefited from a few trims, or in a wiser move, maybe some more background about who these people really are. We know they spend long stretches of time together, and they seem to enjoy the company of each other, though I was wondering how they put up with Max, a man who stands out for being distant, a little arrogant, and not too warm or as down too earth as the rest of the group. He's somehow central to the storyline, and it would have been good to know more about what he means to the rest, beside excellent beach house accommodations.As usual, Marion Cotillard shines in her role as the woman who is not as simple as it appears. She carries emotional baggage (unexplained of course), but it is her facial expressions, her longing, her sad looks, which reveal her unhappiness. Maybe she tries too hard, or not hard enough. It's time to make a choice and decide what could work.Vincent (Benoit Magimel) is quiet but intense, carrying a secret about himself for too long, and it is perfect timing from the director that allows him to stand out. Maybe it is the fact that he says little, and when he speaks, he says only what matters. It is an interesting performance.There is a big question at the end of the film, and it is the incomprehensible decision about the vacation itself. There is a big event at the beginning of the film, and I didn't understand why the trip was taking place so soon. This is supposed to deliver a punch in the final scenes. Maybe it is does reveal what we don't want to know. I had questions about this type of human interaction before and wondered why sometimes the obvious takes so long to happen, if it ever. In most cases regret is usually the end result.