Director: Regis Roinsard
Stars: Romain Duris, Virginie Efira, Gregory Gadebois, Solan Machado Graner
I think Virginie Efira is one of the most talented actors today. If you’ve read any of my previous reviews of films, she has starred in I haven’t exactly kept those feelings a secret. Recently her roles in Benedetta and Madeliene Collins have been very impressive. She’s a Belgian actress whose roles are usually in French and thus subtitled. I feel she is underrated from a North American audience perspective but not so much in Europe. She is consistently nominated for awards in Europe for her performances having won here and there along the way. One of the things that I truly admire about her is that she can excel in multiple genres. As a true actor she becomes her character leaving no trace of the last role she inhabited. There are some actors who can only do one style of film, not Ms Efira.
Historically when I am discussing one of her films, she is the focal point. She is usually the best part of the film she is in. Not always of course, but a significant amount of the time. Not this time. This time she has a fantastic co-lead in Romain Duris. Duris recently was in the film Eiffel, portraying the architect behind the famous tower, Gustave Eiffel but it was turn in The New Girlfriend where he gets my profound respect. The 2014 movie is a must see and solidified Duris, to me, as a very talented actor.
In this film we meet Georges (Duris). Georges is a bit of a hustler as he makes up stories to endear people to him. He meets Camille (Efira) who also seems to have that same quality. They are very spontaneous together and in a world where people ask ‘why?’, they seem to live more by a ‘why not?’ philosophy. The two of them have a very care-free style and their relationship quickly develops. They have a son who also inherits their skill for the ‘tall tale’ and everything seems to be splendid.
They like to party and by proxy of their personalities, be the center of attention.
As the movie progresses, we see that Camille is starting to have issues with differentiating between reality and fantasy. And this gradually becomes worse. Both Efira and Duris fully commit to their characters and the results are outstanding. These are fantastic performances and they breath such life into Roinsard’s film.
The film is based on a novel by Oliver Bourdeaut, a French contemporary writer.
This movie takes us on a journey of the ups and downs of their relationship and it’s quite the emotional trek.
These are two of the finest performances of the year and bringing these two amazing actors together is a gift for any cinephile.
Grade: B+
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