Roman de Gare.

"The problem with Roman de Gare," writes Anthony Lane in the New Yorker, "is that the tale grabs you more than the telling.... By the end - which, true to form, feels cheerful but insubstantial - the film is relying on the charms of its cast."

"Claude Lelouch's A Man and a Woman may be one of the silliest love songs in the canon of French fluff, but 42 years on, it gets a beguiling makeover in this new soufflé from the director, who seizes the day both to trade on and shake off his enduring reputation as France's reigning romantic airhead," writes Ella Taylor in the Voice. "[T]his goofy tale of self-emancipation, a love story made by a mature man wise to the possibilities of the improbable, is also a thriller with an unexpectedly dark edge."

Updated through 4/26.

"Lelouch has made a diverting but cool suspense puzzler whose payoff proves to be smaller and more mundane than its twisty, fluid setup," writes Bill Weber in Slant.

Andrew Sarris wants you to see the film before you read his review in the New York Observer. Then, he'll tell you why, "despite all my reservations, I think it is worth seeing, though I do not approve of all the trickery involved."

Dave Kehr has a fun talk with Lelouch for the New York Times.

Erica Abeel talks with Lelouch for indieWIRE.

Earlier: James Van Maanen's take when he caught it at Rendez-Vous With French Cinema in February.

Update, 4/24: "I can't say that I love all of Roman De Gare, but it is worth reporting that the first half of the film is nearly perfect," writes Armond White in the New York Press.

Updates, 4/26: "[I]f Roman de Gare never quite lives up to the sheer delightful audacity of its mock-pastoral comic middle, it dispenses a few other pleasures en route to the talky, deflating revelations of its climax," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. "One of these is Fanny Ardant."

Posted by dwhudson at April 23, 2008 12:43 PM