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How sad is this?

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

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

Philippe Lioret has created some terrific roles for women: I will always remember what Sandrine Bonnaire did with her Brittany lighthouse keeper's wife who has a yen for a young stranger (L'Equipier), or what Melanie Laurent did with her head-strong teenage girl part (Je vais bien...). Marie Gillain makes us forget her early work as empty-headed women who easily turn to crime as she plays a crusading judge, a woman who tries to fight the predatory credit system in France. Not only are the banks against her, but the people who want easy credit and won't read the fine print on contracts are too.The actors do fine; I'm always glad to see Vincent Lindon in any part and here he is especially good. He's a rugby coach as well as Gillain's partner in the crusade and gives a great energy to the film. I would have cut about 30 minutes out of it, however.

French screenwriter, producer and director Philippe Lioret's seventh feature film which he co-wrote with French actor, screenwriter and director Emmanuel Courcol and co-produced, is an adaptation of a novel from 2009 called "D'autres vies que la mienne" by French author, screenwriter and director Emmanuel Carrère. It premiered in the Venice Days section at the 68th Venice Film Festival in 2011, was shot on locations in France and is a French production which was produced by producer Marielle Duigou. It tells the story about a jurist named Claire Conti who has moved in to a new house in Lyon, France with her husband named Christophe who is a sauce chef and their daughter named Mona and son named Arthur. On an autumn day, Claire goes with her children to their kindergarten where she meets her daughter's friend named Zoe's mother named Céline Hersant. She then goes to court, and during the hearing of a case regarding a loan company's lawsuit against a woman she meets Céline again. Distinctly and eloquently directed by French filmmaker Philippe Lioret, this finely paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the two main characters' viewpoints, draws a quietly compassionate portrayal of a woman whom after a crucial meeting with her doctor becomes increasingly involved in the life of a woman whom has been left by the father of her children and befriends a judge named Stéphane who lives with his girlfriend named Marthe. While notable for its naturalistic and atmospheric milieu depictions, sterling cinematography by cinematographer Gilles Henry, production design by production designer Yves Brover-Rabinovici and costume design by costume designer Anne Dunsford, this dialog-driven and character-driven story about a woman's virtuous fight for another person and for moral justice against a capitalist-driven loan company called Crefiref, depicts two heartrending studies of character and contains a great score by Danish composer Flemming Nordkrog. This charmingly humorous, perceptively romantic and reflective drama which is set during an autumn and winter in a city in Southern France in the 21st century and where a French mother and wife whom has lived most of her life without a father-figure and whom is faced with a "verdict" she decides to master on her own, finds a precious human connection with a middle-aged father and rugby coach whom is missing his adult son and a single mother whom is struggling to support her three children receives help from two jurists who for once would like to see the ethical aspects of a case within the judicial system surpass the financial, is impelled and reinforced by its refined narrative structure, subtle character development, rhythmic continuity, acute examination of its central themes, scenes between Claire and Stéphane and the empathic and understated acting performances by Belgian actress Marie Gillain, French actor Vincent Lindon and actress Amandine Dewasmes. A graceful, whole-hearted and authentic narrative feature.

Philippe Lioret is kind of the French Ken Loach, a director who best expresses his potential when he is depicting the hard reality. He proves it once again in this Toutes Nos Envies, a committed, social movie who deals with the last legal battle of a reserved Marie Gillain, resigned to dying, helped by the always excellent Vincent Lindon.The script, though relatively predictable, is well executed and most importantly it never falls into melodramaticism. Despite everything, and even if this drama turns out to be touching, it doesn't fully convinces either, due to a plot that sometimes drags on a bit too much and a direction too lazy. Too bad because if it wasn't for that, the movie would be close to a real success.

Philippe Lioret has not made a bad movie yet ;I would go as far as to write that this movie,"Je Vais Bien Ne T'en Fais Pas" ,"L'Equipier" "Welcome" or "Tombés Du Ciel" place him firmly and definitively among French finest contemporary directors .When you watch a Lioret movie ,you ask yourself :why is it so good? His subjects are not new,not particularly original .Take "Toutes Nos Vies ":it is a hackneyed subject (see Goulding's "Dark Victory" 1939):the terminally-ill young person who wants to make the best of the time she has got to live."Toutes Nos envies" is not a melodrama though : it's based (inspired by )on a novel called "D'Autres Vies Que La Mienne"(=lives other than my own) and it makes a big difference with the traditional tear jerker;although she realizes that she has not done half of what she wanted to do in her life ,the heroine never feels sorry for herself :she does not tell the truth to her husband and her good friend Stephane discovers her terrible secret by chance .With Stephane ,she continues -both are judges- the fight against the financial companies which exploit the poor and the humble with their would be low lending rates (3% the first three months ,then more than 20 afterward ,written in tiny characters) which allow them to satisfy "all our desires" (check the title).Who has never received a letter or an email which reads "get 2000 Euros NOW !and spend it as you like" ?And although she knows her life is almost through,she is still interested in Celine 's plight : a victim of those deceitful promises and a mother of two whose dignity is intact ("I'm not asking for charity ",as she gives back the twelve Euros).Philippe Lioret is one of the rare contemporary directors who makes a friendship between two women who are worlds apart (the magistrate and the person on welfare) convincing ;never the heroine shows condescension or pity :Marie Gillain's smile and compassion are so glaring (even after she has learned what terrible fate lay in store for her) that she wins over the audience .Philippe Lioret's emotional commitment to his story and his characters is extraordinary ;had Frank Borzage lived in France in 2011,this is what he might have made .This is a director who loves his characters: the distraught father in "Je Vais Bien ....",the swimming teacher in "wecome" and the Robin Hoodesque judge in this one .Both the swimming instructor and the judge are wonderfully portrayed by Vincent Lindon who acts as some kind of father for Claire and the young man who wants to swim across the Channel in the precedent movie.Claire and Stephane love each other,even though their relationship remains purely platonic and it shows when they share the simple pleasures of life: swimming in a lake ,watching a rugby game then drinking champagne to the team's victory in the locker room;and unlike ,say ,Guillaume Canet,Lioret's use of American music makes sense :as Stephane is a big Rickie Lee Jones fan-we see him looking for "pirates" in a records shop-,it's only natural he plays her songs to Claire.Claire's and husband Christophe's daily life is depicted with simplicity and spontaneity ;their children are called Arthur and Zoé ,a nod to childhood for it used to be the names of comics characters.A barrel of laughs ,it is not;and the movie was not a big success in a world where "Les Intouchables " reigned ;but it's not too late to give it a chance!Like this ? try these ....."Le Petit Prince A Dit " Christine Pascal ,1992 "Europa 51" Roberto Rossellini ,1951"stranded" Frank Borzage ,1934