Wednesday 16 April 2014

A Good Marriage (1982)

  'A Good Marriage' (Le beau mariage) is a 1982 French film directed by Eric Rohmer.

  Sabine, a young(ish) woman from Paris has just stopped having an affair because of the bother with his wife and kids. Sabine then goes on a quest to find a husband. At a friend's party, the friend recommends Sabine her cousin. The cousin is a single lawyer called Edmund. She falls in love with him, desperate to get married, however, he has other things on his mind.

  The main problem with this review website is that I give too many films a score of between 70 and 85. The reason for this is because I love the majority of films I watch, which is great for me watching them, but problamatic for you guys, as it's hard to recomend films when they are rated similarly. THANK GOD for terrible films like this one, so I can definitely tell you a film to definitely avoid.

  My third Eric Rohmer film, the 35th best foreign film ever made (according to digitaldreamdoor.com) and the second film from the eight film Rohmer boxset, which is tempting to give up on. 'My Night at Mauds' was a decent film and 'The Aviator's Wife' was mostly dull with a singular interesting part. All these three films suffer from the same thing... Too much inane talk about love. J'taime la petite Couer oui oui etc. I hate to use the term pretentious... but...it is.

  'A Good Marriage' feels very similar to 'The Aviator's Wife' in that the characters are irritating and the filming is realist. All scenes are set on the damp, dreary streets of Paris, which adds to the dullness of the overall experience. I have no problem with a film being shot on the streets, but atleast have good, well-framed shots or beautiful settings. It's the equivalent of me recording myself walk down an alleyway. It does nothing for the film at all.

  The actors do a great job of portraying annoying characters I never wish to meet. Sabine, the main protagonist, is someone I hope I never meet. Whining constantly to everyone "I'm going to get married" when she barely knows Edmund. I know there is a thing called love at first sight, but there is nothing appealing about Edmund at all. Is she a gold-digger? I don't think so. She's 30-ish and in total desperation to settle down for the rest of her life, but that's not a good, or cinematic, to watch.

  Does it get better towards the end, like most films do? Nope. It is bland throughout it's entire runtime. Congratulations Mr Rohmer, you currently have the lowest rated film on this blog.


TO CONCLUDE
Not bad, but monumentally bland. Rohmer likes realism, but this is the equivalent of being trapped in a room with a bunch of pretentious, desperate, dull, French people. Not pleasant and not a good waste of time.

SCORE
24

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