I'm writing this minutes after having finished the movie and wow. I really have no clue what I've just watched. I wish I hadn't seen a trailer for this movie prior to watching it because it would of made me more indifferent towards it. The trailer makes it seem like it's just an average romance movie where the guy tries to overdose in his hotel room, the maid shows up, saves him and they get together. This is not the case.
So the movie starts off with shots of a terminal where we see people commuting and get short glimpses into their lives.This is also when we're first introduced to our female protagonist Audrey (Anaïs Demoustier), a maid working in a hotel just outside of Paris. She sees a bird from the window of her bus, camera goes black and switches to the next scene.
This is where the main flaw of the film really comes into play, there is no real reason given for anything that happens. All context has to be inferred, we're just kind of thrown in to this world that's already been revolving for some time which I personally wouldn't mind if it wasn't for the fact that the characters are one-dimensional and everything is just kind of "accepted".
In the next scene we're greeted by the other "main" character Gary (Josh Charles), a CEO for a company called "Island inc." on a business trip to work with some overseas clients and happens to be staying in the same hotel Audrey works in, About 5 minutes into meeting Gary it is stated that he has decided to randomly "stop everything", this includes of course deserting his wife, kids, company, job, home, responsibilities etc.. selling his stake of the company and not planning on returning to america, opting instead to stay at the hotel indefinitely. The closest we the viewers and his work colleges get to an explanation is that he "can't do *it* anymore" and that's it, we're just kind of supposed to accept that. Not long after some random guy comes in and starts narrating the story for about 2 minutes just to never be seen again.
I wish I could say that the movie is a slow burner but it really isn't. The already slow film manages to somehow get even slower when we are introduced to his wife in what could very well be a contender for the most drawn out Skype call in any movie I've seen outside of "Unfriended", and that's only because the movie was MEANT to take place in a Skype call.
Then we go back to following Audrey as she cleans rooms for about 20 minutes until all of the sudden the lights go off on the floor she's cleaning in which makes her decide to go to the roof (Because that's only logical, don't call the power-outage in or anything) where she transforms into a bird and doesn't question the fact for more than 2 seconds before jumping off of the roof of the hotel. Yep.
No reason is really given as to why (I know, surprising) but at this point she's become somewhat fixated on Gary even though her only interaction with him has been watching him sleep for about a minute before realizing she should probably leave the room as it's not vacant. She flies into his room through the window and sees a map on the bed which makes her believe he's gone to the airport and decides to meet him there, again, for no real particular reason.
I think the worst part is that this movie had potential to be really good had it not been for the director throwing in random ideas hoping for one to stick. Nothing about the first 3/4's of the film warrants screen-time and just feel like filler. The only redeeming point is that if you are able to get past the lack of reasoning, the final quarter (right up to the last 5ish minutes) is actually really well made.
After she transforms the camera changes to first person and you are able to see things from a birds perspective, She's able to glance into the lives of the people who's rooms she cleans on the daily by flying by their windows.Tight shots allow us to share the intimate space with the guests.
We are then greeted to beautiful shots of the night sky the camera moving freely, swaying, as if truly gliding the way a bird would mid flight. this, accompanied by sound design that wraps it all up to make for a complete atmosphere.
This is where the movie truly shines. There are moments in which she gets excited or scared and the camera gets faster and shakier to communicate her sense of anxiousness. Things that otherwise wouldn't seem problematic to a human are now an issue such as hunger, wind speed, and.. cats. The problem is, none of it lasts. As soon as you're fully immersed with the idea of being a bird you're brought back to earth when she returns to being a human and both Audrey and Gary finally meet properly in the hotel's elevator. They share some small talk over the semantics of the french word "Personne" which means both "nobody" and "persons" at the same time, they shake hands and then it just... ends. That's it, that's the movie, nothing is really said, nothing is really done, it just kind of exists.
I'm not quite sure who the target audience of this film would be, but for the average viewer I'd just recommend staying away unless you literally have nothing better to do with your time. It's also worth noting that the movie has a brief nude scene, it's not really integral to the plot at all (like all of the other things in this movie) so you can just skip it if you're planning to watch it with a younger audience.
So the movie starts off with shots of a terminal where we see people commuting and get short glimpses into their lives.This is also when we're first introduced to our female protagonist Audrey (Anaïs Demoustier), a maid working in a hotel just outside of Paris. She sees a bird from the window of her bus, camera goes black and switches to the next scene.
This is where the main flaw of the film really comes into play, there is no real reason given for anything that happens. All context has to be inferred, we're just kind of thrown in to this world that's already been revolving for some time which I personally wouldn't mind if it wasn't for the fact that the characters are one-dimensional and everything is just kind of "accepted".
In the next scene we're greeted by the other "main" character Gary (Josh Charles), a CEO for a company called "Island inc." on a business trip to work with some overseas clients and happens to be staying in the same hotel Audrey works in, About 5 minutes into meeting Gary it is stated that he has decided to randomly "stop everything", this includes of course deserting his wife, kids, company, job, home, responsibilities etc.. selling his stake of the company and not planning on returning to america, opting instead to stay at the hotel indefinitely. The closest we the viewers and his work colleges get to an explanation is that he "can't do *it* anymore" and that's it, we're just kind of supposed to accept that. Not long after some random guy comes in and starts narrating the story for about 2 minutes just to never be seen again.
I wish I could say that the movie is a slow burner but it really isn't. The already slow film manages to somehow get even slower when we are introduced to his wife in what could very well be a contender for the most drawn out Skype call in any movie I've seen outside of "Unfriended", and that's only because the movie was MEANT to take place in a Skype call.
Then we go back to following Audrey as she cleans rooms for about 20 minutes until all of the sudden the lights go off on the floor she's cleaning in which makes her decide to go to the roof (Because that's only logical, don't call the power-outage in or anything) where she transforms into a bird and doesn't question the fact for more than 2 seconds before jumping off of the roof of the hotel. Yep.
No reason is really given as to why (I know, surprising) but at this point she's become somewhat fixated on Gary even though her only interaction with him has been watching him sleep for about a minute before realizing she should probably leave the room as it's not vacant. She flies into his room through the window and sees a map on the bed which makes her believe he's gone to the airport and decides to meet him there, again, for no real particular reason.
I think the worst part is that this movie had potential to be really good had it not been for the director throwing in random ideas hoping for one to stick. Nothing about the first 3/4's of the film warrants screen-time and just feel like filler. The only redeeming point is that if you are able to get past the lack of reasoning, the final quarter (right up to the last 5ish minutes) is actually really well made.
After she transforms the camera changes to first person and you are able to see things from a birds perspective, She's able to glance into the lives of the people who's rooms she cleans on the daily by flying by their windows.Tight shots allow us to share the intimate space with the guests.
We are then greeted to beautiful shots of the night sky the camera moving freely, swaying, as if truly gliding the way a bird would mid flight. this, accompanied by sound design that wraps it all up to make for a complete atmosphere.
This is where the movie truly shines. There are moments in which she gets excited or scared and the camera gets faster and shakier to communicate her sense of anxiousness. Things that otherwise wouldn't seem problematic to a human are now an issue such as hunger, wind speed, and.. cats. The problem is, none of it lasts. As soon as you're fully immersed with the idea of being a bird you're brought back to earth when she returns to being a human and both Audrey and Gary finally meet properly in the hotel's elevator. They share some small talk over the semantics of the french word "Personne" which means both "nobody" and "persons" at the same time, they shake hands and then it just... ends. That's it, that's the movie, nothing is really said, nothing is really done, it just kind of exists.
I'm not quite sure who the target audience of this film would be, but for the average viewer I'd just recommend staying away unless you literally have nothing better to do with your time. It's also worth noting that the movie has a brief nude scene, it's not really integral to the plot at all (like all of the other things in this movie) so you can just skip it if you're planning to watch it with a younger audience.