Ensemble, nous allons vivre une très, très grande histoire d'amour... (2010)
Directed by Pascal Thomas

Film Review

Having turned his hand to a series of imaginative Agatha Christie adaptations (including, notably, L'Heure zero, 2007), director Pascal Thomas returns to the genre for which he is perhaps better known, the romantic comedy, albeit with a mischievous glint in his eye (suggesting that he may have been infected by Christie's sardonic humour).  Ensemble, nous allons vivre une très, très grande histoire d'amour... is one of Thomas's lighter films and feels like an unlikely conflation of a children's fable and wicked send-up of an American love film.  Occasional cut-aways to a mad Doctor Zhivago spoof, in which the hero attempts to rescue his beloved Lara on a docile mule, remind us that love is a kind of delusion, and Thomas has great fun showing us the comical sight of this particular human folly.  Even when his characters conspire to commit murder or set out to kill themselves in the most hideous way imaginable, the mood remains upbeat.  No matter how dark things get for the protagonists, we just know that, in the end, as in every child's fairy tale, the prince will get his princess and they will live happily ever after.  There is something reassuringly safe about Pascal Thomas's universe - safe and ever so slightly bananas.

For the part of the main male protagonist, Pascal Thomas was determined to cast an inexperienced young actor and in Julien Doré he made a bold yet inspired choice.  Just a few years previously, Doré (a descendent of the 19th century illustrator Gustave Doré) had found national fame in France when he won the TV talent show Nouvelle Star; subsequently he has made a name for himself as one of the country's most promising young pop singers.  Pascal Thomas's decision to give him his first role in a feature film augurs well for Doré's future career as an actor.  What he lacks in experience, Julien Doré more than makes up for in charm, and he shows a natural aptitude for comedy.  His modest stature (5ft 7½) and air of juvenile innocence gives him a pleasing Chaplinesque quality, which is most evident in the film's more vaudevillian sequences.  Going by his satisfying contribution to this film, Doré has a great future ahead of him in French cinema.

The likeable trio of principals is completed by two established actors, Marina Hands and Guillaume Gallienne, both of whom do justice to Pascal Thomas's enjoyably daft screenplay.  Gallienne is particularly memorable as the dumb tailor and turns in the kind of performance you would expect to see in a classic Italian comedy.  Hands is perhaps slightly miscast - her forte is drama, not comedy - but her flair for playing passionate, love-torn heroines (first revealed in Pascale Ferran's Lady Chatterley, 2006) is put to good use by Thomas.  Ensemble, nous allons vivre une très, très grande histoire d'amour...  is not the most original or profound film you are ever likely to see, but it is an engaging little divertissement - the kind of enjoyable nonsense that convinces us that the best way to enjoy life is never to take it too seriously.  Never forget that, of all the gods, Eros is the one with the cruellest sense of humour.

Film Synopsis

When Nicolas and Dorothée meet at a folklore festival it is love at first sight.  Yet whilst they realise they are made for one another they cannot speak and so most go their separate ways.  Some months later, Nicholas arrives in the region where Dorothée lives and finds work as a hairdresser.  Of course the two young people are bound to meet again and, when they do, they swear eternal fidelity.  But Dorothée's father is against their marriage, and so the young lovers have no other option than to kill themselves.  Tragically, even this scheme is thwarted.  Infatuation turns to outrage when Nicolas hears some gossip about his beloved.  After a violent argument with her supposed beau idéal, Dorothée storms off to Paris to start a new life.  Aware he has made a terrible mistake, Nicolas goes after her, but by the time he finally manages to track her down Dorothée has married another man, a deaf and dumb tailor named Hubert.  Dorothée realises, too late, that she is still in love with Nicolas, and there appears to be only one solution.  Nicolas must kill her husband...