Good start, but then it gets ruined

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Although the performances were good, this movie is quite frustrating. While a non-linear narrative can be effective and compelling, the disjointed plot or lack of one leaves the viewer bored and confused. The story line is further strained by the lack of development of much of Alice's and Martin's characters. For instance, one can't understand why Martin's father was such a brute or why Alice would choose to stay with Martin. It's a shame because this movie could have been a lot better.

Martin, age 20, runs away from his rural French home under mysterious circumstances and ends up at his half-brother's flat in Paris, where he meets and falls in love with the half-brother's female roommate Alice, age somewhat older. When Alice informs him, halfway through the film, that she is pregnant, he has a flashback (which we don't see for a while yet) of what happened to make him flee his father's house, and for the rest of the film, while Martin languishes in a psychiatric facility, Alice must resolve the situation Martin created, a labor of love she doesn't hesitate to perform even though it involves the sacrifice of her own happiness.The bad news: This is a long, slow movie, and the characters are not really as well-defined as they perhaps could have been, especially given the film's character-centered plot. The good news: It's really beautiful to watch, and when the end of the movie sneaks up on you, and you've given what you've seen a little while to sink in, it's so brilliantly sad that you just want to fly to Paris and find Alice and hug her or take her to dinner or something. Not a good choice for a first-date movie--rent the video and have a close friend over for wine and cheese.

For me, it was mandatory to watch this movie. On the one side, I like Binoche, and on the other, I like to see French movies. Now, this movie is an exception and an enormous disappointment! Dialogs between Alice and Martin are as flat as one can imagine, the dramatic content of the movie reduces to that of a daily soap opera. Then, on top of that, or maybe just because the maker of the movie himself felt that things are kind of slow-going, just concentrated on showing Binoche in scenes like from the fashion magazine (for the ones who saw it: that scene before she entered the psychic clinic). All in all, Binoches excellent appearance is reduced to a farce, and not even the more natural acting of Matthieu Almaric as Benjamin could save this movie going under like the big old Titanic.I was glad when this movie was over; only the delighted memories of "The English Patient" or "the Unbearable Lightness of being" remain.

I have seen this movie in a preview during the French week of Munich universities. Thank god, I didn't have to pay for it. This is a movie which could have been shot during the late sixties, early seventies and it's is not a classic, it's dusty.The plot is unbelievably boring, the actors do their very best to save the film from bad camera, directing and cuts. Juliette Binoche shines like a single star in an otherwise growse movie. Whoever wrote the script, he had absolutely no idea what drama or conflict is about. There is a single witty scene in this movie, when Alice tells Martin that she thought about his wooing and yes, she would like to sleep with him. He freezes, then panicly locks up the door and turns off the light before undressing her. Afterwards, he explains is behaviour with the sentence: "I wanted to do it, before you change opinion again."You don't think it's good? Beware, it is the only good scene in the movie. You think that's good? Now you know it, you don't have to see the film.Before I get flamed by the connoisseurs, yes I do like good French movies, but this movie surely isn't one. No I am no Hollywood fanatic, but this film deserved more of everything.If you want to see an excellent non-Hollywood drama, which shows you what tragedy is about, try Wintersleepers by Tom Tykwer...I warned you! 1/10 (1 for Juliette Binoche participating)