Marius and Jeannette (1997)

68% of critics liked it
(25 reviews)
71% of users liked it
(80 ratings)

A couple puts faith in love to get them through times of extreme poverty in this comedy-drama that was a major box office success in its native France. Jeannette (Ariane Ascaride) is a single mother living in a working-class community in Marseilles; she tries to support herself and her two kids on… More A couple puts faith in love to get them through times of extreme poverty in this comedy-drama that was a major box office success in its native France. Jeannette (Ariane Ascaride) is a single mother living in a working-class community in Marseilles; she tries to support herself and her two kids on her salary as a check-out girl at a supermarket and lives in an apartment complex where everyone is thrown into close proximity with everyone else (thankfully, they all get along). Marius (Gerard Meylan) is working as a security guard at a cement factory that has gone out of business; he's also squatting in the building, since the plant is soon to be demolished and he'll be needing his money later on. One day, Jeannette happens by the factory, and spotting several cans of paint, tries to take two of them home with her. Marius spots her and tries to chase her away, while she rails at him with curses against the capitalist system. The next day, an apologetic Marius appears at her doorstep, cans of paint in hand; the two soon become friendly, and a romance begins to bloom, though it quickly becomes obvious that Jeannette's romance novel fantasies about passionate embraces in the sunset are a bit off the mark from what the more pragmatic Marius has in mind. Ariane Ascaride won a Cesar Award (the French Oscar) for her performance in Marius Et Jeannette: Un Conte De L'Estaque; she's married to the film's director, Robert Guediguian. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 41 min.
Directed By: Robert Guediguian
Genres: Romance, Art House & International, Comedy

On DVD: Sep 19, 2006

Critic Reviews

Derek Elley, Variety
A charming, easygoing portrait of a bunch of characters in a Marseilles neighborhood...
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
...irresistible...
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
The environment is squalid, the politics naive, the humor fey (and not funny), the narrative barely there.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
...Mr. Guédiguian sees the courage and hope in such everyday vignettes, and treats his characters with heartfelt admiration.
Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic
Guediguian is a smooth enough director, but it's his casting and some episodes in the screenplay that transfix us.
John Hartl, Film.com
There's no question that Jeannette is a richly imagined character, and Ascariade knows exactly how to capture all her moods. But the other people here are largely defined by a trait or two or a political statement.
Brandon Judell, Critics Inc./America Online
a study of the difficulties working-class love faces when confronted with unemployment, past betrayals, and a deteriorating social structure
Mark R. Leeper, rec.arts.movies.reviews
The film is heavy with political subtext, but the plot is lukewarm comedy.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A masterfully directed French film about a love affair between two middle-aged people.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
...a thinly disguised fable about the superiority of 'the simple life,' but ultimately it says nothing.
Ed Scheid, Boxoffice Magazine
The key quality of Guediguian's film is a deep sensitivity to the characters and to the pressures of the French working-class where life can be a daily struggle.
Bob Thompson, Jam! Movies
[A] wobbly neo-political love yarn.
Yazmin Ghonaim, Cinephiles
Guédiguian succeeds by creating a simple story about a couple in love while remaining faithful to his ideal of setting an optimistic film against a realistic background.