This movie, despite it being categorized as 'Comedy, Drama, Romance' is, in my opinion, more of a romantic psychological drama. If you were looking for a superficial Hollywood RomCom, this is not what you'll see.You have two individuals, Rémy and Mélanie, with very different backgrounds and very different occupations which would lead us to believe they have little in common, but they have lives in common, that being lonely and in search of a soul mate, then work that cause them different levels of stress but stress nonetheless. Early on we see them walking close to each other, both headed for home, and their homes are adjacent apartments, but not in the same building, just separated by a party wall. The two never even noticed each other, and thus I found the scriptwriters engineered the greatest audience tease I could ever imagine; time after time we expect Rémy and Mélanie's paths to cross but repeatedly they don't. It's the big tease indeed, but smart.
They live in Paris and if you like Paris (I love Paris) as much director Cédric Klapisch does, you'll enjoy the venue, the sights and sounds. Life in Paris makes its residents, for some reason I never quite understood, melancholic, at least many, and certainly Rémy and Mélanie. Their lives and workplace causes them stress and they are told to seek help from some psychologists. Their respective psychologists provide what little comedy I found in the movie, because where the main characters were concerned, the therapists were useless. Both protagonists struggle to find balance in life and love where they can find it, though what they find is disappointment. We are kept hoping simply because we want to and because the near encounters of Rémy and Mélanie lead us to believe they are bound to connect.
Both lead characters find joy in much the same life experiences. Scenes with a cat Rémy reluctantly found himself owning, changes how we perceived him and how he perceived himself; they lead to yet another link to Mélanie, for he loses the cat and it ends up living with Mélanie. The two neighbours still haven't met, but we feel they are going to; they still don't. By this time we know how they live parallel lives, almost in a parallel worlds but we see them both for who they are and we are convinced they are meant for each other. If only they knew, if only they met. Our imagination works overtime creating the moment when they should.
The original French title of the movie depicts perfectly what we now know up to this point. Loosely translated 'Two of me' (French is my mother tongue so I assure you it's what it means) because they are more similar than different. I also like the English title because it conveys exactly what we hold hope for all along. I chose to title this review from a famous passage of a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem because it's what the story conjured up in my mind up to the closing scenes. Those closing scenes are absolutely brilliant because after all the thinking and assessing we made watching the movie (thank you scriptwriters) we are left to draw for ourselves just how beautiful Rémy and Mélanie's life will be now that we are in charge of the fictitious ending in our minds. Of course they connected, not where and when we thought they would but we don't care, and that's life. François Civil and Ana Giradot did a splendid job portraying Rémy and Mélanie. I can't remember two people smiling so eloquently at each other; watch this movie, you'll see. My reaction was a sigh and a big smile of my own (I suppose that makes me a romantic?).
They live in Paris and if you like Paris (I love Paris) as much director Cédric Klapisch does, you'll enjoy the venue, the sights and sounds. Life in Paris makes its residents, for some reason I never quite understood, melancholic, at least many, and certainly Rémy and Mélanie. Their lives and workplace causes them stress and they are told to seek help from some psychologists. Their respective psychologists provide what little comedy I found in the movie, because where the main characters were concerned, the therapists were useless. Both protagonists struggle to find balance in life and love where they can find it, though what they find is disappointment. We are kept hoping simply because we want to and because the near encounters of Rémy and Mélanie lead us to believe they are bound to connect.
Both lead characters find joy in much the same life experiences. Scenes with a cat Rémy reluctantly found himself owning, changes how we perceived him and how he perceived himself; they lead to yet another link to Mélanie, for he loses the cat and it ends up living with Mélanie. The two neighbours still haven't met, but we feel they are going to; they still don't. By this time we know how they live parallel lives, almost in a parallel worlds but we see them both for who they are and we are convinced they are meant for each other. If only they knew, if only they met. Our imagination works overtime creating the moment when they should.
The original French title of the movie depicts perfectly what we now know up to this point. Loosely translated 'Two of me' (French is my mother tongue so I assure you it's what it means) because they are more similar than different. I also like the English title because it conveys exactly what we hold hope for all along. I chose to title this review from a famous passage of a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem because it's what the story conjured up in my mind up to the closing scenes. Those closing scenes are absolutely brilliant because after all the thinking and assessing we made watching the movie (thank you scriptwriters) we are left to draw for ourselves just how beautiful Rémy and Mélanie's life will be now that we are in charge of the fictitious ending in our minds. Of course they connected, not where and when we thought they would but we don't care, and that's life. François Civil and Ana Giradot did a splendid job portraying Rémy and Mélanie. I can't remember two people smiling so eloquently at each other; watch this movie, you'll see. My reaction was a sigh and a big smile of my own (I suppose that makes me a romantic?).