French title – “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” / English language title – “A View Of Love”
The translation of the French title into English would be “A Balcony Overlooking The Sea” and the English language title would be “En Vue De L’amour” in French. After seeing the film, my choice for the French title would be “En Vue De L’amour”, with “A View Of Love” for the English language title.
Although my invitation to see the World Premiere of “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” is from the French Consulate of Los Angeles, the film is actually one of the screenings for the first day of the 2010 American Film Market. Of course I didn’t discover this until my arrival at the AMC Criterion theatre in Santa Monica. The AFM is an annual event in Santa Monica for industry buyers/players from around the globe. Since I am only tenuously connected to the film industry, I am pleased to attend the Market, even if I am not a potential buyer and it is just for one screening.
Well, this World Premiere is not getting off to a good start – some of the lights in the theatre are not turning off, but they go ahead and start the film. However, a few minutes into the showing of “Un Balcon Sur La Mer”, the film stops. All the lights come up and a man announces, in French and English, that they are going to start over again. This time all the lights turn off and the film is projected from the beginning without any further problems.
Real estate agent Marc enjoys working with his father-in-law and happily lives in Southern France with his wife and daughter. However, the past arrives one day, upsets his present and changes his future. The past is a girl named Cathy who Marc loved during his childhood in Algeria, before the country achieved independence. The return of Cathy into his life disrupts Marc’s domesticity and brings back memories of life in Oran before his family’s abrupt departure to escape the violence. Allowing himself to fulfill his childhood love for Cathy, Marc irrevocably changes the future for himself and his family. Perhaps it is the lack of closure in his youth that propels Marc towards this life changing behavior.
But all is not completely right. Although a number of memories of Algeria are recounted, some memories for Marc and Cathy are not shared/same ones and they should be. Has time diminished or distorted them? When Marc questions his mother about Algeria and his friend Cathy, she reveals some disturbing information that he can’t believe – won’t believe about this woman who has reentered his life. What is the truth and will Marc be able to see it through the love? Marc searches for answers and in so doing uncovers a real estate scam from inside the agency and Cathy’s role in the deception. He is able to prevent the completion of the scam and although Cathy’s complicity is undeniable, Marc chooses to be with her. She is a part of his life whose ending left a space in his heart and no matter what the reality, for Marc, now only she can give him back his first feelings of love for the girl Cathy.
Though the film does not go in the direction I thought it would (more straightforward, more anguish about his wife and daughter, rejection of the deception), “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” nevertheless provokes one’s thinking of the struggle for independence, aspects of life that still remain open, how perceptions can change, but maybe not so much. The films starts out in a calm morning in Algeria and ends in a rainy night in France and in between is the life of the boy Marc and the man Marc coming to a resolution for love. So I ask, what needs resolution in your life? Better still, what needs resolution in my life?
Film Facts: Director/Writer: Nicole Garcia, Writers: Frédéric Bélier-Garcia, Natalie Carter, Jacques Fieschi, Cinematographer: Jean-Marc Fabre, Producers: Xavier Amblard, Alain Attal, Gaëtan David, André Logie, Frantz Richard, Production Companies: Europa Corp, France 3 Cinéma, Les Productions des Trésor
Film Type: Drama, Romance, Thriller, Cast: Jean Dujardin (Marc), Marie-Josée Croze (Cathy), Claudia Cardinale (Marc’s Mother), Toni Servillo (Marc’s Colleague), Sandrine Kiberlain (Marc’s Wife), Michel Aumont (Marc’s Father-in-law), Jean-François Malet (Le gardien), Philippe Napias (Thierry), Length: 105’, Language: French, Country: France, Year: 2010
Film Trailer
France release date Wednesday 15 December 2010
No United States release date set as of this post
Images:
Left: Jean Dujardin as Marc from the website lyricis.fr
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” poster from the website cinemotions.com
The translation of the French title into English would be “A Balcony Overlooking The Sea” and the English language title would be “En Vue De L’amour” in French. After seeing the film, my choice for the French title would be “En Vue De L’amour”, with “A View Of Love” for the English language title.
Although my invitation to see the World Premiere of “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” is from the French Consulate of Los Angeles, the film is actually one of the screenings for the first day of the 2010 American Film Market. Of course I didn’t discover this until my arrival at the AMC Criterion theatre in Santa Monica. The AFM is an annual event in Santa Monica for industry buyers/players from around the globe. Since I am only tenuously connected to the film industry, I am pleased to attend the Market, even if I am not a potential buyer and it is just for one screening.
Well, this World Premiere is not getting off to a good start – some of the lights in the theatre are not turning off, but they go ahead and start the film. However, a few minutes into the showing of “Un Balcon Sur La Mer”, the film stops. All the lights come up and a man announces, in French and English, that they are going to start over again. This time all the lights turn off and the film is projected from the beginning without any further problems.
Real estate agent Marc enjoys working with his father-in-law and happily lives in Southern France with his wife and daughter. However, the past arrives one day, upsets his present and changes his future. The past is a girl named Cathy who Marc loved during his childhood in Algeria, before the country achieved independence. The return of Cathy into his life disrupts Marc’s domesticity and brings back memories of life in Oran before his family’s abrupt departure to escape the violence. Allowing himself to fulfill his childhood love for Cathy, Marc irrevocably changes the future for himself and his family. Perhaps it is the lack of closure in his youth that propels Marc towards this life changing behavior.
But all is not completely right. Although a number of memories of Algeria are recounted, some memories for Marc and Cathy are not shared/same ones and they should be. Has time diminished or distorted them? When Marc questions his mother about Algeria and his friend Cathy, she reveals some disturbing information that he can’t believe – won’t believe about this woman who has reentered his life. What is the truth and will Marc be able to see it through the love? Marc searches for answers and in so doing uncovers a real estate scam from inside the agency and Cathy’s role in the deception. He is able to prevent the completion of the scam and although Cathy’s complicity is undeniable, Marc chooses to be with her. She is a part of his life whose ending left a space in his heart and no matter what the reality, for Marc, now only she can give him back his first feelings of love for the girl Cathy.
Though the film does not go in the direction I thought it would (more straightforward, more anguish about his wife and daughter, rejection of the deception), “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” nevertheless provokes one’s thinking of the struggle for independence, aspects of life that still remain open, how perceptions can change, but maybe not so much. The films starts out in a calm morning in Algeria and ends in a rainy night in France and in between is the life of the boy Marc and the man Marc coming to a resolution for love. So I ask, what needs resolution in your life? Better still, what needs resolution in my life?
Film Facts: Director/Writer: Nicole Garcia, Writers: Frédéric Bélier-Garcia, Natalie Carter, Jacques Fieschi, Cinematographer: Jean-Marc Fabre, Producers: Xavier Amblard, Alain Attal, Gaëtan David, André Logie, Frantz Richard, Production Companies: Europa Corp, France 3 Cinéma, Les Productions des Trésor
Film Type: Drama, Romance, Thriller, Cast: Jean Dujardin (Marc), Marie-Josée Croze (Cathy), Claudia Cardinale (Marc’s Mother), Toni Servillo (Marc’s Colleague), Sandrine Kiberlain (Marc’s Wife), Michel Aumont (Marc’s Father-in-law), Jean-François Malet (Le gardien), Philippe Napias (Thierry), Length: 105’, Language: French, Country: France, Year: 2010
Film Trailer
France release date Wednesday 15 December 2010
No United States release date set as of this post
Images:
Left: Jean Dujardin as Marc from the website lyricis.fr
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: “Un Balcon Sur La Mer” poster from the website cinemotions.com
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