Oddly ,this movie begins like Duvivier's 1936 classic "La Belle Equipe" at a time when people were dreaming of a better future;in 2011,they are still dreaming.A couple (in Duvivier"s movie ,it was a bunch of buddies) buys a restaurant by a lake ,soon to be confronted with insurmountable difficulties , the infernal indebtedness spiral-one of the subjects of the contemporary "Toutes Nos Envies" by Philippe Lioret-.the originality of Khan's movie is the reversal of the sexes:it's the man who is left alone with his lover's little brat and who has to cope with a ruthless world .Guillaume Canet is as good as ever in a part à la "Kramer vs Kramer" (but a hero who has to live in a much more modest milieu)and his young co-star is up to scratch ,without showing off;sometimes ,with his hope against hope,Canet's character recalls those of Frank Borzage ,who gave all they had for something better that did not seem to happen.
SPOILER: the last sequence really makes the viewer happy ,after all these trials ;and without being really a happy end it lets some sunlight break through .The better future might still be at hand after all.
SPOILER: the last sequence really makes the viewer happy ,after all these trials ;and without being really a happy end it lets some sunlight break through .The better future might still be at hand after all.