Moi César, 10 ans 1/2, 1m39 (2003)
Directed by Richard Berry

Film Review

Richard Berry, one of France's most prolific and versatile actors, made a promising directing debut in 2000 with a lightweight but fairly engaging comedy, L'Art (délicat) de la séduction.  This he followed two years later with Moi César, 10 ans ½, 1m39, a child-centric comedy that has some amusement value but very little substance to it.  The first half of the film bears an uncanny resemblance to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's  recent box office hit Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001), employing a similar cinematographic style, narrative technique (most notably excessive use of a whimsical voiceover) and even similar music, although the content isn't anywhere near as good.

On a more positive note, the performances from the child actors are generally engaging (better than average), but their contributions are pretty well undermined by a mediocre script that manages to be trite, vulgar and charmless for most of the film's over-long runtime.  Where the film really falls flat on its face is in the second half, where the plot becomes unbearably contrived and Berry's shortcomings as a director are painfully evident.

The film's infantile subject matter, puerile humour and caricatured style ensures that Moi César, 10 ans ½, 1m39 will have much greater appeal for children than for adults.  Certainly, from an adult perspective, it's a pretty cynical and warped view of childhood that Berry and his co-screenwriter Éric Assous offer us, and none of it really rings true.  Richard Berry would have much more success with his next directorial outing, La Boîte noire (2005), a slick mystery film which offers far more in the way of narrative substance and well-judged stylisation.  After this, Berry won further plaudits for his gangster thriller L'Immortel (22 Bullets) (2010).

Film Synopsis

César is a shy, not very talkative boy who is ten and a half years old, 1.39 metres tall and lives in Montmartre, Paris.  He likes eating pastries and is deeply in love with a girl named Sarah Delgado.  His best friend is Morgan Boulanger.  When his father goes away on a business trip, César soon convinces himself he has been arrested and put in prison, and by airing these fears out loud he manages to gain the sympathy of his classmates.   Morgan is used to not having a father, having been brought up by his mother in a single parent household.  One day, the enterprising César makes up his mind to go in search of his friend's missing father, who was last seen in London.  Because Sarah can speak English, she agrees to accompany César on his impromptu quest...