The Alliance Française French Film Festival 2010 started off with a bang on Tuesday 2 March, with appearances by famed directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie, etc) and Australia's George Miller (Happy Feet and Babe).
George Miller received the prestigious Ordre des Arts et des Lettres award by l'Ambassadeur de France en Australie, Michel Filhol.
The invitation-only cocktail party took place in the historic and beautiful buildings of the National Art School, and after, the guests listened to some speeches and watched the Australian premiere of Jeunet's new film Micmacs à tire-larigot (roughly translates as non-stop dodgy shenanigans).
I haven't seen this film yet but I have seen and will see some, of which I'll review here.
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LOL (Laughing out loud)
Starring the gorgeous Sophie Marceau as mum (mom), and newcomer Christa Theret as her daughter, the title is quite clever because it's the nickname of the main character, Lola (played by Christa), and it also refers to the internet acronym (because MSN chat or something similar is featured throughout the film). It was much much better than I thought it would be and I enjoyed it a lot. It reminded me all too much of the painful teenage ("ado") years but now that I'm older I was able to also relate to the mother character, even though I'm not a parent myself.
Lol is a relatively normal teenage girl who spends way too much time daydreaming and ruminating about boys and boyfriends instead of doing her homework. She has a male friend with whom she is starting to develop feelings for. Can they remain friends or will trying to get together ruin their friendship? The age old question. Ooohhh....
The mother character is 40 and newly separated, and trying to deal with her hectic life of working a full-time job as an architecte and looking after 3 children (of whom Lol is the oldest). There are some funny moments when her mother comes along (to babysit the 2 younger children). As well as this she is trying to deal with her sexuality, sex life and relationships, and there we see the parallels between her life and her teenage daughter's. It reminded me a little of Freaky Friday but without the switcheroo part, but it was much much better and deeper.
I was also made aware of the differences between French teenage high school students and Australian ones. They seem to grow up much faster and start smoking and drinking at a younger age (or maybe that's just my naivety). Actually, the glaring difference (and this is something I have read in books too) is that teenagers (and adults) are much more comfortable with the opposite sex, and there isn't so much segregation and many people have friends of the opposite sex with no romantic feelings for them. A part of me also wondered what it would've been like to go to school and not have to wear a uniform!!
I think most people could relate to this movie, especially women of any age from teenagers right up to women in their 50s or 60s as we have all been there at one time or another or are still going through those experiences and feelings... the movie was a total barrel of laughs. I (and the rest of the audience) laughed throughout the entire film. One of the most hilarious moments of all is when they go to London and every (negative) stereotype about England is portrayed. I'm sure it is very tongue-in-cheek, the French poking fun at the English. Highly recommended!
8/10.
La bande annonce (en français)
Quelques interviews des acteurs de LOL (laughing out loud)
imdb : LOL (Laughing out loud)
Premiere.fr : LOL (Laughing out loud)
à suivre...
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