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Simply Perfect

As Good As It Gets

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

There's a Deja Vu feeling in this movie; the foster child in search of his/her biological mother was already the subject of Mike Leigh's movie and many other films have broached it since ."Je Vous Souhaite" has many similarities with the English movie:in both case the foster child has a good job whereas the mom has remained a crude uneducated woman.The fact that director Oumie Lecomte is herself a foster child could have helped the movie possess a real-life appeal .But her approach is melodramatic .The mother has to go to a physiotherapist's and,what a coincidence ,it's her own daughter who ,herself in search of her mom, takes care of her.She works as a dinner lady in a school canteen where she is the pupils' punching bag .Besides,there are racism problems ,some of which will be explained in the end ,but it looks more like an "unexpected twist " than a realistic explanation.IMHO,Anne Benoit as Annette gives by far the best performance :she remains simple,restrained, and makes the best of a not-so-rosy life under an over possessive mother's thumb.She shows compassion and a great longing for the happy -against all odds- days of her youth and a desire to be truly loved.On the other hand ,Celine Sallete whose performance French critics praise to the skies does not move me at all ;blame it on her character ,maybe :she looks like a spoiled child , egoist , not caring that much about her child and her husband she divorced - this male part is totally underwritten - and who seems a very good dad to Noé.And why an abortion in another country?(the nurse speaks English).Let's mention the wonderful Catherine Mouchet as Madame Kubiak who blows her off the screen in her brief appearances.On the plus side ,filming on location in Dunkerque is fine .A final "moral" in voice over brings the intellectual side of the movie to a head whereas the last mother/daughter scene is a model of simplicity.My feelings are mixed.