The French film "Et soudain tout le monde me manque" (2011) was shown in the United States as "The Day I Saw Your Heart." It was co-written and directed by Jennifer Devoldère.
This is a movie that is billed as a dramatic comedy, but it just didn't work for me at either level. Mélanie Laurent stars as Justine, the most beautiful and least responsible Xray technician in France. We are supposed to find it adorable when she takes multiple x-rays of a man to whom she's attracted, and then uses the images to produce x-ray art. (There actually is an art form that uses X-rays, but presumably not at the risk of radiation exposure to patients.)
"She just broke up with her boyfriend, so she's sleeping on her sister's couch." Maybe the plot needed Justine to have no place to live, but the explanation is not funny or dramatic.
Meanwhile, we are supposed to accept the plot device that Justine's father truly loves his children, but never took the time or made the effort to tell them so. Now he hangs out with all of Justine's former boyfriends. He makes a suggestion to his pregnant wife that is truly awful, and that ends up with him sleeping on the couch. (It's a couch-sleeping kind of family.)
It's true that the family is Jewish, but I didn't feel that their Jewishness had any bearing on the plot. That's why I was surprised to find the film as part of a Jewish Film Festival. The festival booklet says the movie "charmed our entire screening committee." I guess it just didn't charm me.
We saw the film at the Little Theatre in Rochester, as part of the fine Rochester Jewish Film Festival. (OK--we didn't like this one, but most of the movies were great.) It will work well on DVD, if you choose to see it. However, I would suggest that you'd do better with another, much better, French dramatic comedy, Paris-Manhattan (2012), also shown at the RJFF.
This is a movie that is billed as a dramatic comedy, but it just didn't work for me at either level. Mélanie Laurent stars as Justine, the most beautiful and least responsible Xray technician in France. We are supposed to find it adorable when she takes multiple x-rays of a man to whom she's attracted, and then uses the images to produce x-ray art. (There actually is an art form that uses X-rays, but presumably not at the risk of radiation exposure to patients.)
"She just broke up with her boyfriend, so she's sleeping on her sister's couch." Maybe the plot needed Justine to have no place to live, but the explanation is not funny or dramatic.
Meanwhile, we are supposed to accept the plot device that Justine's father truly loves his children, but never took the time or made the effort to tell them so. Now he hangs out with all of Justine's former boyfriends. He makes a suggestion to his pregnant wife that is truly awful, and that ends up with him sleeping on the couch. (It's a couch-sleeping kind of family.)
It's true that the family is Jewish, but I didn't feel that their Jewishness had any bearing on the plot. That's why I was surprised to find the film as part of a Jewish Film Festival. The festival booklet says the movie "charmed our entire screening committee." I guess it just didn't charm me.
We saw the film at the Little Theatre in Rochester, as part of the fine Rochester Jewish Film Festival. (OK--we didn't like this one, but most of the movies were great.) It will work well on DVD, if you choose to see it. However, I would suggest that you'd do better with another, much better, French dramatic comedy, Paris-Manhattan (2012), also shown at the RJFF.