All Critics (110)
|
Top Critics (27)
|
Fresh (93)
|
Rotten (19)
|
DVD (3)
"Potiche" is a frothy French confection, a sort of île flottante of movies.
The film is still worth watching, and the one fabulous reason why can be summed up in two celebrated words: Catherine Deneuve.
A charming diversion from Ozon's more serious films of late.
Pairing up Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu pays dividends in the daft feather-light French farce Potiche, a period piece designed to remind us of just how far and how fast women have come in the Western world.
It's a cheeky female revenge fantasy that plays out even in the casting.
Potiche is a French sex farce with a time warp feminist message that's more odd than entertaining or enlightening.
Deneuve's performance and the artistic design make this film work, despite shortcomings in humor and plotting.
Catherine Deneuve continues her run as world cinema's most gracefully aging actress.
...a failed farce that seems unlikely to please even Ozon's most ardent fans...
...rose-tinted, sun-dappled flashbacks and clever use of split-screens and slow-zoom dramatic reveals add to the fromage and homage factor to '70s TV.
Some of the scenes are a bit stilted whenever the film betrays its theatrical roots. And the wordy script means you'll be reading a lot of subtitles if your ears can't keep up with the dialogue.
Ozon ... attacks his material with huge zest, playing up kitsch elements but never losing sight of more serious points.
A blend of boulevard farce, 1970s sex comedy and political satire. Deneuve responds to the challenge magnificently and with a glint of mischief.
A hugely enjoyable French farce with a witty script and terrific performances from Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu.
Deneuve's combination of dignity and a determined ordinariness is just right, while Depardieu's lovelorn political beast is equally watchable.
Catherine Deneuve is on magnificent form -- singing and dancing! -- in François Ozon's comedy of female emancipation in the 1970s.
Told with sly humour and eye-catching period detail, Potiche offers frothy fun underpinned by some astute observations about the dawn of feminism and the seismic changes in French society at this period.
Ozon's film has its winking way with Deneuve, and she winks right back at it: she's funny, loose and charming, but also aptly exasperated, and there's room for a strain of melancholy .
It is a period pastiche executed with brilliant attention to detail and a weird, suppressed passion, like a sitcom in a bad dream.
A warm-hearted story of a woman's rise in a man's world belies a biting satire.
Ozon recalls the mild farce and mannered drawing-room comedy of an earlier era of French cinema.
The film is a proscenium confection that has somehow wandered into a projection beam: minor, but nice if you're in the mood.
It's as light and soft as a pink satin pillow, and a little overstretched, but it's also packed with bawdy zingers and pointed political barbs.
A liberating giggle with a prominent French slant that stands out ... It's nuances and farcical antics make for an instant light and frothy crowd-pleaser.
More Critic Reviews
——
——
——
83%
68%
90%
Top Critic
