Beloved (Les Bien-aimes) (2011)

67% of critics liked it
(12 reviews)
30% want to see it
(189 ratings)

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 25 min.
Directed By: Christophe Honoré
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Aug 17, 2012 Limited
Studio: IFC Films

Critic Reviews

Philip French, Observer [UK]
Those who like Beloved will file it under guilty pleasures.
Allan Hunter, Daily Express
A melancholy French musical that stretches across four decades and several continents.
David Gritten, Daily Telegraph
It feels like a vanity project, and it doesn't help that the songs - tremulous, world-weary and melancholy - sound much the same despite the changing times.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
The casting of Deneuve, the star of Umbrellas, and her daughter, by Marcello Mastroianni, give their all and are a major part of the film's allure.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
For me, the brooding Garrel is pretty insufferable, but his mannerisms are at least reasonably in check here.
Allan Hunter, The List
A sprawling, messily ambitious epic of unrequited love and unfulfilled hearts that is lent an added poignancy by the casting of Mastroianni's mother Catherine Deneuve as the older Madeleine and by all the cinematic ghosts that accompany her appearance.
Joe Walsh, Little White Lies
Christophe Honoré's delivers on his promises and provides a captivating film that just needs the fat trimming.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
An emotionally engaging French drama with strong performances and catchy songs, though it occasionally dips too far into melodrama and its unnecessarily lengthy running time eventually takes its toll.
Tom Dawson, Total Film
Alex Beaupain's songs effectively convey emotion, but Beloved doesn't scale the heights of the Truffaut and Demy films it pastiches.
Dave Calhoun, Time Out
The early scenes with Sagnier have real verve, and Honoré handles his first few shifts in time well, but ennui sets in with yet another chapter bringing songs of decreasing quality and events of increasing tiresomeness.
David Hughes, Empire Magazine
Christophe Honoré goes epic in a tale of interlocking lives that owes a debt to Jacques Demy. It won't be to everyone's taste but it's playful enough to win us over.
Simon Miraudo, Quickflix
Beloved veers too wildly into the 'bitter' and the 'sweet', never quite syncing up into a totally satisfying final product.