Les Chansons d'Amour (Love Songs) (2007)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Matheus C

  
  While it never remotely aproaches the greats of "Les Parapluies de Cherbourgh", which it borrows heavily from, it is a charming little musical with a surprise twist at the end.

• Arash X

  
  After the almost unbearable first part(the departure) it follows the story & its characters in a more convincing & engaging way but not enough to save the entire thing from the abyss

• William D

  
  [font=Garamond][size=3]"Les Chansons d'Amour" (Love Songs) is somewhat unique in that it's a musical, and it's a celebration of bisexuality. Also for a change, male bisexuality is celebrated as much as female. In fact the film's richest, longest and most… More
  [font=Garamond][size=3]"Les Chansons d'Amour" (Love Songs) is somewhat unique in that it's a musical, and it's a celebration of bisexuality. Also for a change, male bisexuality is celebrated as much as female. In fact the film's richest, longest and most loving sex scene is between two male characters. But other than that, it's pretty much what you'd expect from a Parisian film.[/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3][img]http://intimedia.kaywa.com/files/images/2007/5/480/mob358_1180030480.jpg[/img][/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]Everyone is wrapped up in slightly crazy love affairs melding love, antagonism, jealousy, and a million other things in a mysterious knot, and moments of passion are of course transcendent. We are in Paris after all. The characters say horrible things to each other and then make love with abandon the following night. I honestly don't understand how such an intelligent people as the French could continue to be fascinated by codependent cliches about love. But there it is. It's truly one of their national obsessions. Americans have their mysterious fascination with violence; the French have their navel-gazing obsession with romance.[/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3][img]http://www.blogut.ca/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/705301726581386.jpg[/img][/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]Of course the characters also read serious literature, such as Marcel Proust. How could a French movie not include a reference to literature? Despite the cliches, "Chansons" does have an interesting undercurrent of melancholy that is to some degree distinctive. This includes tremendous grief, as one of the leading characters dies. Yet it's not played as a weepie.[/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]We watch the characters deal with both love and grief, but still there was a familiar quality to it all. It's ultimately not a very daring film, despite the music, the bisexuality, and the untimely death. With a more radical director, this could have turned into something really significant. But it wants to be too likable and commercial. I'm sure it was a gigantic hit in France. French commercial filmmakers are masters of making a film seem just a bit artistic, but not so much that it would intimidate the Parisian masses.[/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3][img]http://medias.lemonde.fr/mmpub/edt/ill/2007/05/19/h_3_ill_912219_cannes-chansonsamour.jpg[/img][/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]But how often have you seen a film where the characters suddenly start singing in the middle of a dramatic scene? At times that really is lovely. The only film that compares is Woody Allen's "Everyone Says I Love You," which came out about 10 years ago and was partly filmed in Paris. "Chansons" has no production numbers; that is, there is no dancing. And the music is not intrusive. There's no show-stopping number. The actors will be saying their lines in the normal way, and then just start singing with soft musical accompaniment on the soundtrack. [/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]The songs all seem to have been written just for the film. There are no covers of famous songs, thank heavens. All the songs are gentle, a little whimsical, and easy to listen to. All the actors appear to be doing their own singing as well, which was quite nice. There are no killer voices. It's all meant to express something a character is feeling, not demonstrate the prowess of a performer's skill.[/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]I do have to mention the leading character and the actor who plays him. I have been reading about this young actor, [b]Louis Garrel[/b], who is becoming something of a muse for writer/director [b]Christophe Honore[/b]. Most notably, the two made "Ma Mere" together (which I haven't seen) and now "Chansons." [/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]I do think there's a bit of excessive hype around this actor. He's certainly no Marlon Brando or Sean Penn. But there is perhaps at least some Heath Ledger or Ryan Gosling in him. Early in the film I found Garrel's performance to be a crass embodiment of French stereotypes. But gradually something grew on me. By the end, when the character starts surmounting his grief and falling in love again, I really got taken up by it. I felt myself falling in love along with him. [/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]At the start of the film the character is in love with a girl. At the end he's in love with a boy. But the gender aspect is irrelevant. The point is that he's falling in love. He experiences the typical homophobia that any young man feels when he falls in love with a male for the first time. But ultimately the gender is irrelevant. This character is wise and courageous enough to surmount the homophobia and simply feel the love. Garrel is strong and courageous enough as an actor to bring this to life. G[/size][/font][font=Garamond][size=3]arrel is one of the young actors on the world stage to watch.[/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]The female actors aren't really given that much to work with. Honore makes the male character the center of the story. But of all the (many) women in the film, I'd say the most significant performance comes from[b] Ludivine Sagnier[/b]. She's worked a tremendous amount in France, but this is the first time I'm seeing her. I'll be watching her in the future, in addition to Garrel.[/size][/font]

• Mark A

  
  A morbid French film about some beautiful, sexually ambivalent, young people dealing with the aftermath of an unavoidable tragedy. The film reminded this viewer of Romance and Cigarettes, with the characters breaking into song at various points in the story. While that could be… More
  A morbid French film about some beautiful, sexually ambivalent, young people dealing with the aftermath of an unavoidable tragedy. The film reminded this viewer of Romance and Cigarettes, with the characters breaking into song at various points in the story. While that could be jarring, the songs did seem to move the narrative along. The cast was well chosen. This viewer thought the older sister, Jeanne (Chiara Mastroianni) was particularly well drawn. One sensed her grief and longing although it was never explicitly expressed. Some aspects of the story might cause a bit of discomfort, but overall the story played quite high on the believability meter. The scenery was somewhat drab, even though the entire story took place in Paris, because it focused on the working class neighborhood where the characters lived and never really focused on the icons of the Paris skyline. An interesting film because of the different approach taken here, but one that could easily annoy, as well, for those who have a low tolerance for the musical format. Another three and a half stars, rounded down.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]"Love Songs" is a mildly entertaining pastische of the French New Wave that has a more modern take on sexuality. References include the musicals of Jacques Demy(Catherine Deneuve's daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, has a featured role), young people who… More
  [font=Century Gothic]"Love Songs" is a mildly entertaining pastische of the French New Wave that has a more modern take on sexuality. References include the musicals of Jacques Demy(Catherine Deneuve's daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, has a featured role), young people who would rather read than have sex in bed, and, of course, a menage a trois. Speaking of which, Louis Garrel gives a performance reminiscent of Jean-Pierre Leaud as Ismael, a newspaper worker who not only dates Julie(Ludivine Sagnier), but also a co-worker, Alice(Clotilde Hesme), and all three share a bed together. Even though Julie enjoys the physical aspects of the relationship, she has qualms about the emotional side, the least of which being the inability to sleep.(You know that bed is kinda small for this sort of thing. Next time, plan ahead.) Then tragedy strikes...[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Love Songs" is decent enough but the novelty of the songs wears off soon enough.(And none of them are that memorable anyway.) I know one character accuses Ismael of being self-centered, which may or may not be true, but did that have to be a cue for the movie to focus entirely on him, to the exclusion of almost everybody else?(For example, one major character disappears from the narrative for most of the second half of the movie.) The movie would have worked best as an ensemble piece, anyway. At least it never turns into a morality play, passing judgment on the characters' actions.[/font]

• Daniel P

  
  One of those incredibly romantic films that tears up sexuality labels that the French do so well. Christophe Honoré, who made one of my most favorite films - <i>Dans Paris</i> - continues his experiment with visuals and extends the single musical number in that film to a… More
  One of those incredibly romantic films that tears up sexuality labels that the French do so well. Christophe Honoré, who made one of my most favorite films - <i>Dans Paris</i> - continues his experiment with visuals and extends the single musical number in that film to a full musical here (the influence of <i>The Umbrellas of Cherbourg</i> is clear). The English subtitles occasionally lose some of the poetry of the songs in translation, but this is an unavoidable and minor quibble. Technically a joy and great performances too, especially from Louis Garrel, Clotilde Hesme, and the adorable Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet. A joyful, positive film. <p>"<i>Love me less, but love me a long time.</i>"

• Bill C

  
  A French language filmed in Montreal. I liked it mainly for the music in the beginning and middle portion. I caught it on the Sundance channel but missed the beginning. I tried to follow the plot, but no real point to that. The characters seem more like a flight of sexual fantasy than… More
  A French language filmed in Montreal. I liked it mainly for the music in the beginning and middle portion. I caught it on the Sundance channel but missed the beginning. I tried to follow the plot, but no real point to that. The characters seem more like a flight of sexual fantasy than grounded in real experience. I wish NF would offer a category filmed in Montreal I can think of several movie that were filmed there that had a very raw unique feel. The Freshman 1990, The Red Violin 1998, The Heist 2001, Catch Me If You Can 2002, Confession of a Dangerous Mind 2003, The Human Stain 2003, The Aviator 2004, Taking Lives 2004, Lucky Number Sliven 2006. I don’t know if it’s the atmosphere, the water or the people who are open to filming there, but I visited several times myself and like it.

• Lovable M

  
  Good musical. Not great, but good.

• Janice :

  
  So good. Louis Garrel's presence is uber magnetic, had my eyes riveted to the screen all throughout. The music is pretty average, but the whole film is just really worth it. Bubbly.

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