Happily Ever After (2004)

Call it The Mind of the Married French Man. In his second film with Charlotte Gainsbourg (21 Grams), Yvan Attal (Bon Voyage) looks at monogamy through the prism of three middle-aged Parisians who work at the same luxury auto dealership. Georges (Alain Chabat) is unhappily married to the combative Nathalie (Emmanuelle Seigner), the single Fred (Alain Cohen) is seeing several different lovelies, and Vincent (writer/director Attal) has a seemingly idyllic relationship with realtor Gabrielle (Gainsbourg, Attal's companion)--complete with precocious urchin. In reality, they're in a rut. So while Fred swears his is a lonely life, his frustrated friends aren't convinced. One day in a record store, Gabrielle locks eyes with an attractive stranger (Johnny Depp in a mostly wordless, if effective cameo) while listening to Radiohead's "Creep," with its somber "I don't belong here" refrain. Things go no further, although Gainsbourg's expressive face clearly registers a longing for more. Vincent, on the other hand, surrenders to temptation. As in his feature debut, My Wife is an Actress, in which Attal imagined Gainsbourg having an affair with suave co-star Terence Stamp, his Vincent is the weaker of the two, although Gabrielle is a less unwitting victim this time. Happily Ever After, their fifth film as co-stars, treads a fine line between comedy and pathos before giving way to a fantasy concerning Depp. Or was it all in Gabrielle's head? Attal leaves it up to the viewer to decide. --Kathleen C. Fennessy Amazon.com

Interesting but disatisfied

I thought this movie was somewhat good, but it was slow at some parts and the end was just a cliff hanger ( I Think). It didn't meet my expectations, but it wasn't horrible either. April 3, 2008

Not as good as the first, but still great

I LOVE Yvan Attal and Charlotte Gainsbourg and the first dvd "my Wife is an Actress" so this was a no brainer to buy.
But it's a less light hearted movie then the first, a tad more cynical which I didnt' love, but still just smooth as silk, charming, and very French. More thoughtful and serious but they're great actors, so how can you go wrong? :) March 12, 2008

Captivating women

What is it about the sweep of Charlotte Gainsburg's neck, at just that angle, that can be so utterly captivating?

I loved this film - the ensemble cast - in particular the women - intriguing, fragile, strong, cheeky, sassy.

There is a line in Moonstruck, where Olympia Dukakis comments about why men chase younger women "because they fear death". In this film you feel that insecurity - the fleeting nature of their time - and see the ways in which men might try to deal with that: food fights and infidelity, or a descent into a detached coldness of familiar and monotonous routine.

Saw it at the French film festival in Balwyn and it was my favourite film for the year.


July 10, 2007

How's YOUR Marriage?

This movie will make you question your own marriage. If you don't overanalyze what the characters "shoulda, coulda, woulda" done this or that while watching, you'll truly enjoy this film. The title IS ironic. Why do married men and women do the things they do? Well...look at your marriage. December 9, 2006

Love and Marriage...and other consequences

"Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants" ("Happily Ever After") is a cleverly written examination of contemporary views on love, lust, marriage, infidelity, and the single life. Writer/Director/Actor Yvan Attal has come up with a winner, an entertaining, funny, and ultimately thoughtful treatise on how we cope with partnering.

Three men work together in a car dealership. Vincent (Yvan Attal) is the apparently happily married man with a beautiful wife Gabrielle (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and child. Georges (Alain Chabat) on the other hand is in a tumultuous marriage with Nathalie (Emmanuelle Seigner) who has gender issues that go far beyond feminism and negatively influence their child. Fred (Alain Cohen) is single, bedding every lovely woman he encounters, balancing trysts between mornings, afternoons, and evenings and is deeply envied for his Don Juanism. But Fred actually longs for the sense of belonging that married men enjoy.

The men's lives intertwine on many levels. Most important, we discover that Vincent has a lover (Angie David) despite his idyllic married life and while it is Georges whom one would expect to seek solace from a lover, he remains faithful to his nagging wife! Gabrielle senses Vincent's affair and encounters a sexy man in a music shop (Johnny Depp) who begins to preoccupy her thoughts. She is a real estate broker and comes close to an assignation with a client but remains faithful. All the while she daydreams about her brief encounter with Depp and satisfies her wandering eye with those memories. Fred discovers that one of his paramours is pregnant and happily decides to leap into the married fray. The only 'adults' sharing advice here are Vincent's long married parents (Anouk Aimée and Claude Berri in very welcome comeback cameos!) and it is this 'standard' that adds the final humor to the film.

The manner in which all three men deal with their living situations asks as many questions as it gives answers. Attal finds joy in all forms of coupling and is careful to offer all sides of decisions his characters make in arriving at what provides them happiness. This is a smart movie with terrific twists. There is just enough slapstick (an all out food fight between Vincent and Gabrielle - real life husband and wife team Attal and Gainsbourg - that proves to be one of the fun-loving bits of silliness that binds their marriage) to keep the mood light. Not a profound film, but a joyous French comedy handled by total pros! In French and English with subtitles. Recommended. Grady Harp, October 05 October 24, 2005

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