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Just what I expected

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

To put it succinctly Danielle Thompson has done it again. Since her first, in 1999, she has now written and directed five movies and all but one have featured an ensemble cast and all five have been excellent. Clearly she is well within her comfort zone with large casts but I for one would be interested in seeing her tackle a chamber-piece, maybe something like Un Coeur en hiver with a few more laffs than Sautet felt necessary (and just for the record Un Coeur en hiver doesn't need any laffs as Sautet made it, all I'm suggesting is a similar subject but more of a rom-com). Meanwhile she has delivered a very easy-to-take tale of two Jewish brothers with diametrically opposed lifestyles, one, Kad Merad, a self-made millionaire and, to all intents and purposes, a gentile, and one, Eric Elmosino, a classical musician who could hardly be more orthodox without becoming a rabbi. When they meet, infrequently, they begin by embracing and within minutes are venting years of frustration. Thompson is adept at brilliant set-pieces; we meet them first at the wedding of Merad's daughter BUT Elmosino's wife has just died in a road accident in New York and he has flown her body to Merad's house in Paris; thus we have a grieving Elmosino sitting Shiva whilst in the next room Merad is entertaining his guests by singing Sinatra songs (badly). More complications ensue when Elmosino's daughter, travelling to the reception by Eurostar, is drawn to a man sitting opposite her who turns out, natch, to be her cousin's groom to be. Icing on the cake, if any were needed, comes in the shape of the brothers' ninety year old father, Ivry Gitlis, who, in his day job is a world-class violinist, yet here displays a gift for comic timing. In short another burst from the Thompson machine gun.

Danièle Thompson CAN make good films, as evidenced by at least two of the few she directed (she is a much more prolific screenwriter than director), "Season's Beatings" (La bûche), the caustic portrait of a dysfunctional family artificially reunited for the inevitable Christmas party, and "Orchestra Seats" (Fauteuils d'orchestre), the bittersweet chronicle of a group of art lovers centering around a young waitress freshly arrived from her province. "Des gens qui s'embrassent", her last work to date, could - and should - have been added to the list of her achievements, as the subject she deals with is rich in dramatic and philosophical possibilities. By getting death into a wedding party (a celebration and a promise of life if any), which she already did in the script of Patrice Chéreau's "Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train" (Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train"), Danièle Thompson gave herself the means of mixing the tragic with the comic, the profound with the superficial. Alas, "Des gens qui s'embrassent" promises much but delivers... almost nothing. To be frank, Danièle Thompson's last baby is no "Four Weddings and a Funeral", the perfect model of its type. Sure, one brother must bury his deceased wife just as the other one is marrying his daughter, but where is the fun ?, where is the insight ? Agreed, there is a confrontation between two Jewish brothers, one austere and rigorist (Éric Elmosnino), the other easy-going and profligate (Kad Merad), but the whole thing remains theoretical and superficial. The real trouble is that the writer- director seems much more fascinated by filming the glittering of the jet set lifestyle and of Saint-Tropez, its unavoidable safe haven, than by reflecting on life choices, as she should have. It is all the more regrettable as, though she had set "Orchestra Seats" in about the same background, she had had a much more critical and relevant approach. In the present case, there is not much to save in this unexciting mess. On the whole, "Des gens qui s'embrassent" is nothing but a blindingly obvious story suffused with photo story sentimentality and peopled by bland characters. The exceptions to this rule are a vivid scene on a train at the beginning of the film enlivened by the charm of Lou de Lâage, a wonderfully sensitive young actress, and the unexpected performance by the famous violin player Ivry Gitlis, who at he age of 90, has a ball in playing the eccentric grandfather losing his memory. Much too little to attract large audiences, the way the other Danièle Thompson movies did. The film quickly disappeared from the screens. For good reasons...

Lou de Laage is potentially the next great film actress from France. Seen at ColCoa 2013, Des Gens qui s'embarassent is a break out performance for her after Jappeloup. The director of Des Gens qui s'embarassent, Daniele Thompson, obviously saw something in this young actress because she is the center of attention and has to carry the film. The camera loves her and she is able to take control of the screen, projecting extremely well with the feeling that she is not acting. She is certainly gifted with the talent and looks that can take her to the top. All she needs to do is to learn English, let great directors find her, and take Hollywood by storm.