In Paris, the thirty-five year old Nora Cotterelle (Emmanuelle Devos) has been the director of a famous art gallery for six months and will marry the wealthy owner Jean-Jacques (Olivier Rabourdin) within the next weeks. When she travels to Grenoble to meet her beloved son Elias (Valentin Lelong) that is spending vacation with her father, the professor and writer Louis Jenssens (Maurice Garrel), she discovers that Louis has a terminal cancer, and she decides to stay in Grenoble nursing her father. Nora recalls her relationship with Elias' father Pierre (Joachim Salinger) and with her viola player lover Ismaël Vuillard (Mathieu Amalric), who raised Elias for seven years and for whom her son has a great affection. Meanwhile, Ismaël is interned in a psychiatric hospital against his will. Along the days, Nora and Ismaël discover cruel secrets about their families' relationships.
I bought this DVD with great expectations since I like French movies and the remarks in the cover of the Brazilian DVD, highlighting the awesome performance of Catherine Deneuve. I found a reasonable but pointless and messy story of a selfish woman (the queen) and her four men (the kings) that oscillates between the drama and comedy genres with an uneven result; too long, boring in some moments and with unnecessary scenes like, for example, the despicable declaration of hate of Louis to Nora in the draft of his last book, or the useless speech of Ismaël to Elias in the end. Last but not the least, the cameo of Catherine Deneuve has nothing special to deserve a reference on the cover of the DVD but deceiving her fans. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Reis & Rainha" ("Kings & Queens")
I bought this DVD with great expectations since I like French movies and the remarks in the cover of the Brazilian DVD, highlighting the awesome performance of Catherine Deneuve. I found a reasonable but pointless and messy story of a selfish woman (the queen) and her four men (the kings) that oscillates between the drama and comedy genres with an uneven result; too long, boring in some moments and with unnecessary scenes like, for example, the despicable declaration of hate of Louis to Nora in the draft of his last book, or the useless speech of Ismaël to Elias in the end. Last but not the least, the cameo of Catherine Deneuve has nothing special to deserve a reference on the cover of the DVD but deceiving her fans. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Reis & Rainha" ("Kings & Queens")