2 stars for realism, and 1 star for not being another depressing movie about some drug-addicted street orphans (you know the type) but that's about it.
I'll break it down scene by scene without giving any plot spoilers, which is easy, since there is barely any plot. The storyline you see on the IMDb main page is the whole story.
The film starts with the main character (Paul) and his mistress cuddling and talking in bed for about 10 minutes. Then he shops with his wife for Christmas gifts, trying shirts, looking for a snowboard, etc. There's a few scenes in cars, the most eventful of which Paul tries to dissuade his wife from going to the dental clinic.
Then there's the dental clinic scene, a scene of over 20 minutes, in real time, with no cuts, from waiting room to second room to examination/surgery room. The doctor explains the situation (their child needs braces), how to use them, the future, etc. to both parents, with the child sometimes interrupting or needing explanation. The parents need time to decide, and there's no cuts, we just wait and see. The only interesting thing here is that the dentist is Paul's mistress, so the director decided that we need to see 20 or so minutes of this.
We see Paul's domestic life, having dinner, his wife helping him shave the back of his head, random boring stuff. Then Paul goes to talk to his mistress, who's unhappy with the situation.
At one hour four minutes into this 1:39 hour film, nothing has happened yet. We just know that Paul has a mistress, his wife doesn't know and their child needs braces.
As the synopsis says, and if I may "spoil" it, he tells his wife and after asking him the who/what/when/where, she tells him that their marriage is over. There's one packing scene (where he packs his stuff to leave) and a family dinner where the married couple keeps up the pretense for the sake of their child.
In short, a man has an affair with his daughter's dentist. He tells his wife, who then asks for a divorce. That's it.
Many European film makers have taken the (reactionary) position that European cinema is the opposite of Hollywood cinema. So if Hollywood makes a movie that's all fast cuts, shaky cam, action, witty one-liners, big music and bigger events, then continental film makers want to make something with no cuts whatsoever, real time, long-take, no dialogue, all about facial expressions and silence. Both philosophies have reached the point of caricature and parody.
I would not be surprised to see a European film where it's a black-and- white, no-dialogue, single-take 2 hour film of a man having an espresso and a pack of cigarettes in silence as he contemplates something that's only mentioned in the title of the film.
I'll break it down scene by scene without giving any plot spoilers, which is easy, since there is barely any plot. The storyline you see on the IMDb main page is the whole story.
The film starts with the main character (Paul) and his mistress cuddling and talking in bed for about 10 minutes. Then he shops with his wife for Christmas gifts, trying shirts, looking for a snowboard, etc. There's a few scenes in cars, the most eventful of which Paul tries to dissuade his wife from going to the dental clinic.
Then there's the dental clinic scene, a scene of over 20 minutes, in real time, with no cuts, from waiting room to second room to examination/surgery room. The doctor explains the situation (their child needs braces), how to use them, the future, etc. to both parents, with the child sometimes interrupting or needing explanation. The parents need time to decide, and there's no cuts, we just wait and see. The only interesting thing here is that the dentist is Paul's mistress, so the director decided that we need to see 20 or so minutes of this.
We see Paul's domestic life, having dinner, his wife helping him shave the back of his head, random boring stuff. Then Paul goes to talk to his mistress, who's unhappy with the situation.
At one hour four minutes into this 1:39 hour film, nothing has happened yet. We just know that Paul has a mistress, his wife doesn't know and their child needs braces.
As the synopsis says, and if I may "spoil" it, he tells his wife and after asking him the who/what/when/where, she tells him that their marriage is over. There's one packing scene (where he packs his stuff to leave) and a family dinner where the married couple keeps up the pretense for the sake of their child.
In short, a man has an affair with his daughter's dentist. He tells his wife, who then asks for a divorce. That's it.
Many European film makers have taken the (reactionary) position that European cinema is the opposite of Hollywood cinema. So if Hollywood makes a movie that's all fast cuts, shaky cam, action, witty one-liners, big music and bigger events, then continental film makers want to make something with no cuts whatsoever, real time, long-take, no dialogue, all about facial expressions and silence. Both philosophies have reached the point of caricature and parody.
I would not be surprised to see a European film where it's a black-and- white, no-dialogue, single-take 2 hour film of a man having an espresso and a pack of cigarettes in silence as he contemplates something that's only mentioned in the title of the film.