An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Jackie Oudney.
Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Anne-Marie Duff, Douglas Henshall, Victoria Hamilton, Eric Cantona
Description: Film critic Jed proposes to his long-term girlfriend Cheryl but rather than solidifying their relationship, this declaration signals the beginning of the end thanks to the intervention of a relationship counsellor. With his life suddenly in freefall, Jed distractedly prepares for an interview with pretentious French film director Thierry Grimandi. In stark contrast, Jed's good friend Marcus, who is a devoted fan of Thierry's oeuvre, couldn't be happier with his girlfriend and soul mate, Sophie. As they muddle through, Jed and Marcus acknowledge the people who nurture them through good times... and bad.
Country: UK. 2008. 87mins
Striking presence: Eric Cantona as French director Grimaldi
Jackie Oudney’s romantic comedy about English and French sexual mores has a nice scene at London’s National Film Theatre, as the BFI Southbank was once more satisfactorily called. Hugh Bonneville, one of the four troubled lovers at the film’s centre, interviews Grimaldi, a self-important French director, on the importance of his work. The sillier the director gets, the more a fawning audience applauds — which is often par for the course.
The fact that the director is played by a bearded Eric Cantona — one of Manchester United’s best ever players who, before he became an actor, was given to make philosophical remarks about the game that no one could decipher — adds spice to the sequence. Here, his gnomic pronouncements about love are similarly obscure.
Bonneville’s character, Jed, is in an on-off relationship with Cheryl (Victoria Hamilton).
When they seek counselling from another French expert on love — a psychiatrist this time — he decides that Bonneville only proposed to his live-in lover after 10 years because he didn’t actually love her. Ah, the French...
Film Trailers by Filmtrailer.com
The other English couple in trouble are played by Douglas Henshall and Anne-Marie Duff, who apparently met when, copying one of Grimaldi’s fairly awful films, Henshall pretended to be about to throw himself off a Parisian bridge in order to get the attention of Duff’s character.
The film never seems sure whether the French actually do know more about love than the English, for all their passionate talk.
Otherwise, it is typically British. Which means good acting and a screenplay from Aschlin Ditta that has some shrewd moments but not an awful lot of cinematic flair.
It is certainly watchable, and shrewder than the usual rom-com — but it’s not quite Woody Allen’s Manhattan.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Afternoon:
14°c
