Set almost entirely on a single set with a small handful of players spending a single evening together, it's not hard to spot that Un Air de Famille was adapted from a stage play, which is usually a recipe for boring cinema. Happily Un Air de Famille is an exception to this rule, mostly because it features a witty and frequently poignant script and superb ensemble performances, all shot with unfussy crispness and joie de vivre by director Cédric Klapisch and cinematographer Benoît Delhomme.
The plot revolves around a typical bourgeois French family, their ritualised displays of affection and concern for one another barely disguising jealousies, resentments, and long suppressed hostilities. The clan gathers to celebrate the birthday of Yolande, wife of successful son and Maman's favourite Phillipe. Henri, the irascible inheritor of the bar, always in Phillipe's shadow, frets over the absence of his wife Arlette, while Phillipe worries vainly over his appearance earlier that evening on television. Rebellious sister Betty mulls over her stalled clandestine affair with Denis, Henri's sweet-natured and downtrodden bar man. Maman clucks and bullies and undermines her brood with a skill only a lifetime's practice can achieve, while poor old Caruso, the family's crippled golden retriever pants silently in the corner, waiting to die.
Along with Klapisch, stars and screenwriters Jean-Pierre Bacri and Agnés Jaoui won Césars, the equivalent of a French Oscar, for their script, while Catherine Frot, who plays mousey chignoned Yoyo, and Jean-Pierre Darroussin (Denis), also won Césars for their delightfully understated performances, if not for their nimble ce rock dance routine to Patti Smith's "People Have the Power". Frot's plaudits are particularly well deserved especially for her magnificent display of tipsy, barely disguised disappointment when she learns she's been given another golden retriever, doomed to develop arthritis, from her domineering mother-in-law (Claire Maurier, who also played the neglectful mother in François Truffaut's first film, The 400 Blows). --Leslie Felperin
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Acutely funny, poignant and often heartbreakingly sad. This film offers sharp and snappy dialogue, delivered by a handful of superb players, in a dark and confined setting that mirrors the claustrophobic nature of their emotional lives and relationships. But it's tremendous fun and, as other reviewers have said, all of us can identify with the tensions and frustrations that exist in families, and all of us recognise that from time to time, those emotions can burst forth in ways that are sometimes cruel and sometimes simply ridiculous. It's a superbly... more info
A Theatre Piece It will come as no surprise that this film was originally a play and is set entirely in one room. The film, however, has some interesting characterisations of a family coming together for a birthday party. As one reviewer mentioned, the dance scene when Patti Smith's song, People Have the Power is a hi-light. Howver, I am not sure how many people would want to buy this film for repeat viewing.
Turbulent relationships. If like me you like French films, you will like this one. There is no plot to speak of and no time wasted on car-chases and violent action sequences. There is just fascinating dialogue and the interaction of interesting characters, plus the expression of real emotion and nuances of feeling. There is an intimacy with the characters that is typically French and which the Americans rarely achieve. At the end of the film you feel you know and understand these people and are wiser for having known them.
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