L'Homme est une femme comme les autres (1998)
Directed by Jean-Jacques Zilbermann

Film Review

Director Jean-Jacques Zilbermann's follow up to his idiosyncratic debut feature Tout le monde n'a pas eu la chance d'avoir des parents communistes (1993) is a similarly muddled affair which conflates several interesting philosophical and social issues into a narrative that strains credulity to breaking point without arriving at any meaningful conclusions. The conflict between family duty and personal identity, represented by the main story strand involving a Jewish gay man being bribed into marrying a woman for the sake of tradition, would have made an adequate film, but Zilbermann confuses the issue by throwing in several secondary themes that get in the way and result in this being a needlessly messy and somewhat undercooked bouillabaisse. On the plus side, the characters are well drawn and convincingly portrayed, not the egregious stereotypes you encounter in comedies of this ilk (for example, Toute première fois (2015)), but the plot is overloaded to the point that you feel you are being subjected to three or four films simultaneously.

An impressive cast is headed Antoine de Caunes and Elsa Zylberstein, both of whom shine in their respective roles.  De Caunes is rarely as sympathetic and charming as he is in this film, playing a gay Jewish man caught in a complex personal dilemma with surprising depth and conviction.  Zylberstein is equally impressive, not just complementing de Caunes perfectly, but bringing star quality to what is rather an average film. Ten years on, Jean-Jacques Zilbermann directed a sequel entitled La Folle histoire d'amour de Simon Eskenazy (2009), with de Caunes and Zylberstein reprising their respective roles. In between, Zilbermann delivered a far more satisfying film about the traumas of life in a French boarding school, Les Fautes d'orthographe (2004). It was with À la vie (2014), a story about two Auschwitz survivors, that Zilbermann made his biggest impression.

Film Synopsis

Simon Eskanazy is a gay man from a Jewish background who just about scrapes a living as a musician in Paris.  To preserve the family name, his Uncle Salomon tries to bribe him into getting married - but Simon refuses.  Then he meets a beautiful Jewish singer, Rosalie, who looks as if she would make the perfect wife…