A fresh-faced orphan from the provinces labors away at the last old-fashioned café on Avenue Montaigne as the Paris theater elite prepare for the biggest night of the year in Jet Lag director Danièle Thompson's whirlwind comedy of intersecting lives. Jessica (Cécile De France) may have been orphaned at the tender age of four, but her doting grandmother (Suzanne Flon) did her best to bring the motherless girl up right. A one-time ladies' room attendant at The Ritz, Jessica's grandmother was a
woman well known for her extraordinary taste. Upon arriving in Paris to work as a waitress at a modest café nestled between a renowned concert hall, a venerable theater, and a high-profile auction house, Jessica soon finds herself interacting with a curious cross section of the thriving entertainment industry. As rehearsals for the upcoming shows get under way and Jessica is assigned the task of delivering food to the hardworking actors and low-earning stagehands, she soon discovers that even the most famous of people are often forced to make difficult decisions in life.Jean-François Lefort (Albert Dupontel) is a classical pianist whose devoted wife has him booked at venues across Europe for the next six years. As the free-spirited musician struggles to eschew the formality of his upcoming concert appearance, self-made businessman Jacques Grumberg (Claude Brasseur) takes time out from his May-December romance and his stressful medical treatment in order to auction off a collection that he has been building his entire life and reach out to his estranged intellectual son, Frédéric (Christopher Thompson). Meanwhile, back on the theater front, popular television actress Catherine Versen (Valérie Lemercier) prepares to star in a farcical play, a famous American film director (Sydney Pollack) begins auditioning actors for an upcoming film about Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and a cheerful concierge on the verge of retirement (Dani) enjoys her final stint rubbing elbows with the biggest and brightest stars in Paris. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Even if this fine French meal isn't as rich or feels a little less than it might have been, it's still delightful to sit through, course after winning course.
The movie is as airy as a spun-sugar dessert, but Thompson's observations on the artistic life are both affectionate and knowing: Beauty and wealth, though inevitably compelling, are appreciated as means to humane ends, not goals in themselves.
Watching the charming Avenue Montaigne makes you realize not only how much we miss when mainstream French films are not on the movie menu, but how much we miss when American studios define 'romantic comedy' so strictly.
It's one of those 'what's-not-to-like' movies, a fantasy about life and Paris that passes painlessly, a trifle elevated by its Parisian settings and our desire to lose ourselves in them.
Filled with sentimentality, pretensions, unfulfilled ambitions and a host of dull characters faced with life threatening problems that verge on the ludicrous.
Una comedia simpática y pintoresca, si bien peca de algo de ingenuidad, cierta superficialidad dramática y una indefinición de tono que le quitan interés y credibilidad.
Daniele and Christopher Thomson's marvellously crafted script brings all the characters to life as they struggle to shake the worlds in which they live
There are French movies that are clearly made with a French audience in mind, and there are other French movies that have a non-French audience in mind. Daniele Thompson's "Avenue Montaigne" seems to be aimed at a third, highly-specialized audience; peopl
While AVENUE MONTAIGNE is something of a trifle (which makes it easy to understand why it did not garner an Oscar nomination when there were far more deserving features), it still is a pleasant and enjoyable movie.
This is one of the wonders of Paris, I imagine, or at least of being rich in Paris: Even your misery plays like a fairy tale. In Avenue Montaigne, miserable souls are as common as raindrops, and each one is a portrait of privileged existentialism.
A warm-hearted French confection, the sort of breezy, lightly sophisticated boulevard comedy that was once plentiful in Gallic cinema, and makes a happy comeback here.
I was pretty bored through this one. Seemed like a bunch of stuff was happening and I didn't really care all that much.
October 23, 2007
Curtis Lilly
Super Reviewer
Sweet tale of a young woman who moves to Paris, takes a job in a restaurant, and becomes involved in the lives of several local celebrities. Each of the characters are facing decisions regarding the future and the tale revolves around how each of them deals with his or her personal crisis. None of the world's problems
are solved, but as an afternoon's light entertainment, this film is quite satisfying. A few questions linger as to motivation in a couple of cases, but not enough to detract from the sweetness of the story. A solid cast and a light hand at the helm by director Danielle Thompson. And Paris, ah, always beautiful.
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