Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Masterful Movie

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I love French cinema, I love movies that focus on characters rather than action but this is too much. I watched 20 minutes and I couldn't bear it anymore. I tried to give it time so something can developer but nothing happens, really. There's no action whatsoever, no explanation, background voice appears from nowhere, the characters don't seem to have any motivation to do what they do... come on!If you want a 10 minute scene about room cleaning, go ahead and watch it.Oh, and the bird equals freedom cliché it's so obvious that it's annoying!

This is actually a big day for me, because I witnessed the worst movie in the history of the universe. That's a milestone. I was actually quite excited initially by the plot summary and setting. I love stuff that involves airports, Paris, and hotels.The first half hour held me, because I assumed they were establishing the setting for what was to come, and the payoff would be later. I really enjoyed the scenes of the hotel basement, and the housekeeper girl's routine.But then something went completely haywire. There was a narrator coming out of nowhere. It wasn't even the character narrating. Just a random French male voice talking about the male character in third person. Then an endless Skype conversation that bordered on voyeurism for the rest of us. Then a bird flying around looking for snacks. I was looking for a rope and a stool."Experimental" is one thing, but completely discombobulated fantasy mixed with reality is yet another. Make up your mind and roll with one style. Like other reviewers, I got the metaphor about feeling trapped and wanting to fly free. But I would have preferred more interaction between the two main characters. That would have made for a decent film.

The stars look different and just the sunlight is more beautiful when we fly away from our lives, even for a moment. "Beauty surrounds us," Rumi writes "but we usually need to be walking in a garden to know it." Audrey and Gary are not quite birds of a feather. They are strangers to each other. Yet each of them goes through a similar transformation and dramatic shift in perspective. Their eyes open to new opportunities, as with Cinderella, after dreams or realizations of wonder. Audrey is a young hotel maid appreciating just how much the world is open to her. Gary is an American traveling in Paris on business who abruptly, and in a computer message, calls it quits on his wife, kids and job. With capable acting and directing, and superb writing, the film unravels slowly. At times a little too slowly. Is it really necessary, for the sake of the plot, to see Audrey light up and smoke almost the entire length of cigarette? As the film unwound I began to suspect and understand the reasons for the plodding pace. It is for us, and the characters, to ponder the intricacies of their lives, the possibilities of their newfound and limitless horizons, and more. Still, the next time someone breaks out a pack of cigarettes in a French film, I am going to walk around the block, read a book chapter or something, and return to the theater to see them on their last puffs in front of the same window. Seen at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

An interesting and fascinating film that takes place in Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport area. The fates of two people. First, an American businessman who suddenly decides to quit everything around him: his job, his wife, his kids, everything. Just like that, pffft...And in second we observe the daily burden of an ordinary hotel room maid who also have some existential problems, a Young female who have many questions in her life to answer to...Two people through with many things.And the line between those two is a little cute bird...Just that.A sort of fairy tale, but also very interesting to think about after watching it.