Thanks for the memories!

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Given the fact that I'm neither a Kate Hudson fan nor a Naomi Watts fan, I probably shouldn't have rented this movie expecting to like it. But I love Leslie Caron, and will watch anything she's in. Unfortunately for me, she was in Le Divorce and I had to sit through it.Kate Hudson goes to France to support her pregnant sister Naomi Watts, whose husband has just left her for another woman. While they battle through a very messy divorce, Kate gets involved with two men, Thierry Lhermitte and Romain Duris, and her callous attitude towards both is very off-putting. Meanwhile, Leslie Caron plays Naomi's snobby and cold mother-in-law, and Glenn Close plays an odd author, whose purpose I'm still trying to figure out.There was absolutely nothing about this film I enjoyed, and to be honest, I turned it off and didn't make it all the way through. People who absolutely love France and the French culture, or die-hard Kate Hudson fans might like Le Divorce, but besides that, I can't imagine most people getting through it. Although marketed as a romantic comedy, it actually gets pretty heavy as everyone's affairs and issues collide. If you do decide to watch it, against my recommendation, keep an eye out for Sam Waterston, Stockard Channing, Matthew Modine, Bebe Neuwirth, and Stephen Fry in small roles.

NO ONE in this film over the age of 5 fails to horrify. In a variety of ways of course. I kept thinking of words like "Vile" or "Stupid". As a conventional film entertainment, I give it a 1. As an incisive critique, it deserves an 8.But, of course.My takeaway was that this was a brilliant dissection of the French and American upper classes as they interacted. Both were vile and a disgrace to the best aspirations of most civilizations of the past 500 years.If you wrote down on a set of tickets every human weakness you could think of and put them all in a little jar, then pulled them out one by one, you could find an example of each (very well acted) in this movie.I liken it to a very well done Army training film on venereal disease. Professionally done but, disgusting. If this was the intent of the writer/director then they deserve an 10! "A sickly sourness filled the room. The bitter harvest of a dying bloom"* Finally, seeing it so many years later while France is collapsing in a self-induced cultural suicide...it has a sort of historical sting. You can see why French "Elites" have wrecked their country. Self-involvement, decadence and cynical detachment have reached full bloom.It couldn't happen to a more deserving people. I just hope America doesn't go completely over the cultural/moral brink that the French are living out as I write this.But, of course...*Peter Gabriel

Romantic dramas and comedies are not usually my thing, although I admit they can be interesting. Despite myself, I found I liked The Bridges of Madison County (1995), for example. So also with this one: a nice mixture of irony, wry humour, and culture clash (American vs French) all topped off with some murder and financial skullduggery.There's a large cast of characters, but I'll confine most of my comments to the four main players: Kate Hudson as Isabel Walker, Naomi Watts as her sister, Roxeanne, married to Charles-Henri played by Melvil Poupaud and Isabel's aging lover, Edgar Cosset, played with exquisite panache by Theirry Lhermitte.The story begins as Charles-Henri is leaving Roxeanne (and his daughter) for another woman, Magda (Rona Hartner), just as Isabel is arriving, from USA, to assist Roxeanne. Essentially, Charles-Henri wants a divorce, but Roxeanne refuses. And for much of the resulting interaction between the couple, that impasse remains. In the meantime, Isabel settles in with Roxeanne and, through the family connections meets Edgar (who is Charles-Henri's uncle) and agrees to become his lover.The divorce battle gets worse as Roxeanne discovers the inequalities that exist in French law regarding marriage settlements. Relationships sour even more between the two, and now compounded by the growing dispute about a La Tour painting owned by Roxeanne's family but which Charles-Henri now half-claims as part of any divorce settlement. Further drama ensues when Tellman (Mathew Modine) shows up, ranting to Roxeanne about Charles-Henri's seduction of Magda, Tellman's wife.And, in and out of that mess, Isabel becomes more involved with Edgar, much to the annoyance of Edgar's family – but, trust the French to be very civilized about Edgar's affairs – and the arrival of Roxeanne's parents and brother (Sam Waterston, Stockard Channing and Thomas Lennon, respectively) who have come to support Roxeanne during her difficult time – and, just quietly, to help torpedo Charles-Henri's grab for the La Tour art piece, now valued at multi-millions.The resolution of all these affairs is competently contrived with many scene changes as the plot interweaves between the two couples, one seeking divorce, the other eventually seeking a divorce of a different kind: as Edgar says to Isabel, finally: "I'm too old for you." And, through the latter half of the story, the American and French families intermingle, giving rise to some delicious moments of that humour and irony already mentioned.The denouement is predictable, but still enjoyable, and marred only by Mathew Modine's somewhat overacted deranged husband; still, his intervention is instrumental and provides the only real suspenseful moments in an otherwise conventional divorce story. The use of Glenn Close, playing Olivia Pace, as a quasi-mentor for Isabel assists with the story development with Edgar and adds some further touches of irony; however, it added little to the story, as a whole.As you might expect from an Ivory production, the cinematography, editing, and sound are top notch. And the script, although also somewhat predictable, still shows some moments of brilliance; the lunches and dinners with both families in situ were, for me, a real joy to savour. The acting, apart from Modine, is uniformly very good to excellent. This was the first time I'd seen Kate Hudson on the screen and I think she did well opposite Lhermitte. Watts is always worth watching, as are Channing and Close. And, I was very pleasantly surprised to see Leslie Caron once again, as Edgar's mother.However, with a lot of sub-titles, some people will be turned off from an otherwise English-speaking film, despite the French actors often lapsing into that language. Being a bit of a Francophile, however, I just found it all quite delightful.There are some mild and brief sex scenes, and nothing offensive, even for adolescents. It's not a film, however, for those who like action/thrillers.

As a Frenchman who lives in the US, I was curious to see this movie. I was sorely disappointed. Although there are great views of Paris, albeit only of the touristy areas where American tourists are likely to hang out, and some good acting, the plot is so contrived and ridiculous, the situations so absurd, even allowing for the irrationality of human beings, that one has to say indeed that it COULD HAVE BEEN a good movie with the same crew. I haven't read the book, therefore I am unsure of whether the novel was already lame, or whether it was the adaptation that was poor. Conclusion: don't waste your time watching it!