First, proof that French films have moved me; The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is pure magic and two much more recent that were at least a good card tricks were The Intouchables and Starbuck. Not to mention almost everything Juliette Binoche has starred in. So there.
And I even love Mia Hansen-Love’s Bergmann Island. But as personal as her newest is (Hansen-Love’s father had the disease which the father also has in One Fine Morning), a person’s journal entries aren’t always transferable to the masses and this film, while worthy, is not artistic, nor moving.
Hansen-Love wanted realism and she got it. However, how about adding a dash of emotional musical score? Also, as dynamite as Lea Seydoux is, you can’t team her up with folks who are merely smoldering and rather plain. I sound harsh, but Pascal Greggory was just ok as the father and Lea’s lover, was as bland as a plain croissant. Sorry Melvil Poupaud.
Yet the film is important, people are ageing, hospital systems are broken and there aren’t happy places to house the elderly, a heartbreaking struggle for family and caregivers alike. And sure there are more men (than women) reluctant to leave stale relationships, doing their darndest to have the best of both worlds. And One Fine Morning does emphasize that having your cake and eating it too in this short life of ours is far, far better than just staring self-sacrificingly face pressed against the bakery case.
Speaking of licking the frosting, I enjoyed the sex scenes, as the French don’t mind their nudity and prefer it over violence (bravo), but I just wish I had felt more emotional chemistry and connection at the movie’s close.
