Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

writers_reign It's considered bad form in certain circles to criticize Andre Techine but what the hey, I say it's spinach and the hell with it. This is uneven at best and boasts one of the clumsiest flashbacks on celluloid. Alexis Loret as Martin is clearly paying homage - as Jilly Adair would say - to Dorothy Parker running as he does the gamut from A to B and it's left to Juliette Binoche as Alice to carry both him and the film as best she can which might have been easier had she had a half decent script to work with. Those Ivory Towers in Academia will be swaying in ecstasy at this one as ordinary cinema-goers note the lack of apparel on Techine. One to avoid.

Villemar This film is extremely tedious...it took me several days to get through it. What is most annoying about this picture is the character of Martin. I gave him a chance to find himself through Alice. When he melts down in Spain, I said to myself, well lets give him a chance to sort himself out. Since he gets himself locked up in an asylum, it is up to Alice to sort out the root causes of Martin's problems. She does this by visiting his family, who are not terribly pleased with her visit. But she does all the heavy lifting for Martin anyway, however unpleasant.By the time she gets back she gets him out of the asylum and offers him a challenge. She challenges him to be happy and to be with her, and to finally make a break with his past. Our dear Martin, when finally given a chance to start anew with the beautiful Alice and their unborn child, literally bolts away and sprints to the police station to turn himself in. The end.Martin is one of the most pathetic characters in film history. He has no character arc. He doesn't learn anything. All he knows how to do is brood and run from things. I really wanted to strangle him. Juliet Binoche is wasted as this lovely, caring woman who offers pure unconditional love to this idiot. All for nothing...completely in vain.Dreadful.

noralee "Alice and Martin (Alice et Martin)" is the anti-Hollywood relationship movie of the summer. (It's French so you have to say it like you went to National Lampoon's famous School of ze French Akzent: "a-LEES ay mar-TAHN"). Act 1 gives you background on Martin growing up, yeah you think as you get restless, the usual dysfunctional family, the usual fights with dad, so he ends up in the big city.Act 2 is the usual couple in the Big City (in this case, of course Paris) and quite a few people in the audience yawned quite loudly. There's a few sophisticated touches -- she's pals with gay guys, he falls into being a fashion model for the easy money (and the metaphor for his blankness) so there's arguments about commercialism. This is my first Andre Techine film so I don't know if the crucial Act 3 is unusual, even though the central plot development was not a complete surprise. So many Hollywood "meet cute, fall into bed, fight then realize they're made for each other" movies have the couple existing in a bubble, separate from family or the sources of how they got to be like they are. Here coming to terms with their souls means coming to terms with their family and seeing through all the implications. So there's a bit of a gimmick in cutting back and forth with flashbacks to reveal background to us, but it's done sort of like an amnesia victim gradually remembering.Juliette Binoche really rises to the Act 3; I wasn't all that impressed with her in "The English Patient" but she's gut-wrenching here, going through very complex emotions--and nice non-Hollywood touch that she's the older of the pair.If Hollywood were to remake this movie, they'd cut to the last 10 minutes, and turn it into a courtroom drama where the heroic defense lawyer goes around interviewing everyone to get to "the truth," but coming to peace with yourself is not something that litigation can solve, and Binoche's face shows that.Nice repeat use of Jeff Buckley song. (originally written 9/3/2000)

tmeyer I'm a big Binoche fan but could not have been more disappointed with this film. There is little or no justification given for the demonization of Martin's father and the flat, bland relationship between Alice & Martin leaves one wondering why they'd stay together in the first place. Sure, Techine wants us to think Martin's father was a harsh on his illegitimate son but there's little or no supporting evidence. Standing in the rain, big deal. Punishing him for pretending to be sick. Ho hum. This reminded me of Bresson's "The Devil, Probably" as I really didn't give a damn about any of the characters or why they were in such supposed anguish. Speaking of anguish, you would think Martin's mother would have felt a little remorse about the consequences of her fateful decision (after all, Martin was happy w/ her and didn't want to go) but she didn't seem care about him anyways. In the end, I didn't either.