Je me suis fait tout petit (2012)
Directed by Cécilia Rouaud

Film Review

Having spent the last decade steadily learning her trade as an assistant director on a diverse range of films - which include Corinne Benizio's Cabaret Paradis (2006), Patrice Chéreau's Persécution (2009) and Cédric Klapisch's Ma part du gâteau (2011) - Cécilia Rouaud finally realised her ambition to become a fully fledged film director with this engaging little rom-com.  Je me suis fait tout petit (the title comes from a Georges Brassens song) has a very contemporary theme, as it deals with the now all-too familiar problem of having to get over a broken relationship and start a new life just as the mid-life crisis kicks in.  The subject lends itself naturally to straight drama, but Rouaud opts for a more light-hearted approach (redolent of Woody Allen's films) that encourages us to look on the bright side, although her idea of humour is a little corny and eccentric in places.

Whilst the film lets itself down in some areas (the script being its obvious weak point), it is brilliantly cast and most of its charm stems from the surprisingly effective rapport between the principal actors Denis Ménochet and Vanessa Paradis.  Ménochet is one of the most exciting discoveries in French cinema in the last few years.  Having played minor roles for the past half-decade, he had his big breakthrough with Mélanie Laurent's Les Adoptés (2011) and looks set to become as big a star as Jean Dujardin.  He comes across as a kind of young Robert De Niro, outwardly tough and emotionless, but inwardly fragile and sensitive.  Despite his naturally lugubrious persona, Ménochet has immense charm and conveys some extraordinary human feeling in the film's quieter, more intimate scenes, in particular those in which his character, Yvan, attempts to connect with his unwanted adopted son, Léo.

Vanessa Paradis needs no introduction.  Suffice it to say that she is in her element in this kind of film and has seldom looked more comfortable on the big screen, in a role that makes good use of her comedic talents.  Paradis could hardly be more different from Ménochet and the chalk-and-cheese pairing works remarkably well.  In contrast to Ménochet's moodily introverted Yvan, Paradis's Emmanuelle is the bubbly modern miss on steroids, and the fact that the two actors have such a potent on-screen chemistry proves the point that opposites attract.  It is the most weirdly inspired coupling since Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.  The only let down is that Paradis's character is far less well-developed than Ménochet's - she feels more like a cute male fantasy than a genuinely credible character.  Luckily, Paradis draws our attention away from this fact by making her character so colourful and amusing.

Vanessa Paradis is not the only member of the cast who has to work hard to bridge the credibility gap created by the script.  Most of the characters are thinly sketched caricatures that do only what the plot is required of them.  To a degree, this hardly matters, as most of the film revolves around its two lead protagonists - are we really that concerned with the life story of Yvan's sister and headmaster?  As with the casting of Vanessa Paradis, Cécilia Rouaud manages to cover this deficiency by throwing bags of charisma and acting skill at it.  The supporting cast positively glows with talent and includes Grégory Gadebois and Louise Grinberg, two of the biggest finds of 2011 (the former revealed in Alix Delaporte's Angèle et Tony, the latter in Delphine and Muriel Coulin's 17 filles), with ample back-up from Laurent Lucas and Léa Drucker, two superb established actors favoured by auteur filmmakers.  In his screen debut, David Carvalho-Jorge manages to eclipse most of the above as the angelic little boy Léo who triggers Yvan's emotional reawakening.

Je me suis fait tout petit does struggle to be convincing at times, and the surfeit of clichés and plot contrivances does become wearisome after a while, but it is not without charm.  Despite her long apprenticeship. Cécilia Rouaud falls into many of the pitfalls that a first-time film director is prone to, but she still manages to deliver a film that is well worth seeing, one that is engaging, funny and humane.  However, the one person who deserves the lion's share of the credit for making this such an involving film is Denis Ménochet, an actor who clearly has a great future ahead of him.

Film Synopsis

There is nothing to keep Yvan in Paris.  A 30-something schoolteacher, he is ready to pack up and start a new life somewhere else.  It has been five years since his wife left him to live with her new lover in Thailand.  Since, he has mooched about, uncertain what to do next with his life.  His teenage daughters have left him, preferring to live with his sister Ariane than the miserable, prematurely middle-aged man he has become.  Just when Yvan has made up his mind to leave Paris, two people enter his life and arouse him from his emotional slumbers.  They are: Léo, the product of his ex-wife's love affair with another man, and Emmanuelle, a vivacious colleague at the school where he works.  Yvan soon discovers he has two reasons to stay and rebuild his life...