I was 0 for 3 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's French Film Festival with movies I
didn’t even wish to review*, but yesterday I had the great pleasure of seeing Writer/Director
Carine Tardieu’s cinematic treasure Just To Be Sure (Ôtez-Moi D’Un Doute) and
my faith in French Cinema has been, not only renewed, but heightened.
This gem of a film starts out with middle-aged bomb
disposal expert Erwan Gourmelon (François Damiens) taking his pregnant daughter
Juliette (Alice De Lencquesaing) for a DNA test to see if her baby is in danger
of inheriting her grandmother’s cancer gene.
Though the test proves the baby will be safe, it shows that Erwan’s father
(Guy Marchand) is not his birth father.
What develops is a wonderful relationship story that only
the French could conceive. It is
sometimes funny, sometimes hilarious and always charming thanks to Tardieu and
her co-writing team of Baya Kasmi, Michel Leclerc and Raphaël Moussafir.
The extraordinary Cécile de France and André Wilms round
out the key elements of this beautiful film.
Best of all is the surprising resolution the audience is
left to figure out after the film ends.
It made me chuckle and smile hours after viewing and still brings a broad
grin to my face as I write this review.
Thank you, Carine Tardieu. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Just To Be Sure (Ôtez-Moi D’Un Doute) most
definitely deserves its 5 out of 5. If
it does not get more of a theatrical distribution in the U.S., it’s worth a
trip to Paris to see it.
*The 3 duds I wish to forget were
the amateurish July Tales, the ridiculous Ava and the insipid Montparnasse
Bienvenue.
No comments:
Post a Comment