Real Love
Original Title
C'est ça l'amour- Director: Claire Burger
- Writer: Claire Burger
- Producer: Isabelle Madelaine
CGiii Comment
A slow burner...but, definitely worth the wait!
Teenagers...difficult things at the best of times...but, when you are in the middle of a mid-life meltdown...they [can and usually do] become unbearable and exasperating. Not the case for this malfunctioning father. Despite his wife upping sticks and buggering off, he hunkers down and deals with the situation the best way he can.
All dads can [and usually do] do the most embarrassing things...Claire Burger gives her 'dad' a free reign...as he travails the perilous slopes of his teenage daughter's sexuality. After all, what does he know about being a woman? Yet, his tenderness and care [and his shoulder] are never far away...no matter how flummoxed he gets. He might be boring...but, when it comes to his kids, he's rock solid.
This is a deft wee film, its simplicity belies its complexity...all families are complex, we just learn [as a family, as a team] to work around all the follies and foibles...and, how to ignite and extinguish the flames of fury.
The last scene manages to encapsulate everything that a family should be...it's beautiful, full of warmth and deep paternal love.
Quite simply...lovely.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Mario can hardly believe that, after years of marriage, his wife Armelle is moving out of their house. Family has always been the most important thing for the loving father. His only hope is that Armelle will return to him and his two beloved daughters soon. While he desperately tries to get the attention of his wife, she only ever reacts to the children, both of which are pushing Mario to his very limits. Almost an adult, older daughter Niki is hardly ever home anymore. Meanwhile, pubescent Frida has just fallen in love with a girl – and blames her father for Armelle’s departure.
Four years after PARTY GIRL, Claire Burger returns with a highly emotional family drama. C'EST ÇA L'AMOUR authentically and empathically tells of the inner life of a small family universe, in which the difficult process of letting go may open up new perspectives.
Cast & Characters
Bouli Lanners as Mario Messina
Justine Lacroix as Frida Messina
Sarah Henochsberg as Niki Messina
Cécile Rémy-Boutang as Armelle
Antonia Buresi as Antonia
Célia Mayer as Alex
Lorenzo Demanget as Nazim
Tiago Gandra as Tiago