This is a fine movie any way you look at it in fact I'll amend that to Fine/Great and I'd love to own it on DVD so that I could run it just before La Baule-les-pins (which I do own) and which covers the same autobiographical data from another angle. For the record both films are based on the early life of writer-director Diane Kurys and both concern the unhappy marriage of her parents - a character based on herself appears in both movies. Coup de foudre begins before she was born with the meeting of her parents in a 'camp' in Occupied France during World War II. A guy whose release is already guaranteed spots Isabelle Huppert, falls in love on the spot (hense the title) and smuggles her a note proposing marriage. Somewhat bemused she agrees only to become angry because his name reeks of Jewishness. Somewhat improbably they remain together, have two daughters and settle in Lyon. Simultaneously we are introduced to the second leading character (Miou-Miou), an artist whose husband is shot by the Germans and dies in her arms. She too 'settles' for something less than love and marries an actor (Jean-Pierre Bacri) whose life is a succession of get-rich-quick schemes that backfire. The two women meet by chance in 1952 and form a friendship that soon eclipses anything they feel for their respective partners whilst stopping short of overt lesbianism. Huppert and Miou-Miou have their parts down cold and it's fascinating to see Bacri with a full head of hair looking remarkably like Louis Jordan. This is a wonderful film on our old friend the Human Condition illustrating just how easy it is to screw up our lives. The pertinent questions - like why did Huppert stay with someone she didn't love once she was clear of the Camp, let alone after the war, don't raise their quizzical heads til long afterwards such is the strength of both movie and performances. In La Baule-les-pins the Huppert character, Lena (now played by Nathalie Baye) is still with her husband but clearly only for a matter of time and the two girls are still in the thick of the misery. Both are highly recommended.
Review of Entre Nous
