Diary of a Fleeting Affair (2022) User Reviews

An Affair in Paris

[ZeddaZogenau · 7/10 · 20 October 2023]

O-la-la! Only French filmmakers can do that! A film about a perfectly normal extramarital love affair that doesn't just happen in our favorite MegaCity Paris of all time!

Sandrine KIBERLAIN and Vincent MACAIGNE play a middle-aged romantic couple who once again nibble on the forbidden fruits of lust. They live out their dreams and needs charmingly and directly, trained in the classics of Eric ROHMER and Woody ALLEN. Until, yes, until the duo makes their big dream of a threesome come true...

Charming and funny, tres francais! Such films are not to everyone's taste, but it's nice that they exist!

Cinema Omnivore - Diary of a Fleeting Affair (2022) 7.7/10

[lasttimeisaw · 8/10 · 30 March 2023]

"That said, it is Macaigne who hijacks the narrative in mid stream and profusely piques audience's curiosity and investment. His Simon is a cross section of today's mythopoetic man, rational, sensitive, bristling with cute foibles that can harm no one but embarrass himself, and Macaigne is a ball of neurosis, a windbag without pretension, hopelessly self-conscious of his gaucheness, yet he soldiers on with heartfelt effusions about true feelings and confusions. At the end of the day, the story returns to where it starts, like a full circle. During another chance meeting, Simon nerves himself up to ask Charlotte to be his lover again, plus ça change, but one must hand it to him for his temerity and perseverance, even Charlotte seems impressed. Mouret's open-handed ending gladsomely suggests it might not be the last time they see each other."

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Nicely handled from everybody involved, felt very authentic and real to me

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 8 May 2023]

"Chronique d'une liaison passagère" or "Diary of a Fleeting Affair" is a new French movie, well "new" at least here where it took a little longer for the film to get, but not so new in France anymore where it had its wide release back in autumn 2022 and premiere way earlier even, but for the rest of the world you can surely call it a new release. The film runs for 100 minutes exactly pretty much, so it is neither long nor short and the writer and director is Emmanuel Mouret about whom you can say that romance always played a vital role in his films in the last 25 years and this is no exception here at all. I am not too familiar with the name, but after liking the outcome here a lot (as you can see from my rating) I am curious about his other works. His co-writer is Pierre Giraud, who also has a little cameo here, and this is also not the first time for him to work with Mouret. The cast here will be only familiar to people who love French films I guess. The two leads are the biggest names: Sandrine Kiberlain, who resembles Lisa Kudrow a bit, has been part of the French film landscape for decades and also garnered some solid awards attention in the process while Vincent Macaigne is a bit younger and thus slightly less experienced, but he has also been in a lot over the years. It is not a big cast at all as the film includes many scenes with nobody but the two. The only exception is then the beautiful Georgia Scalliet whose character Louise here plays a vital role story-wise. The rest of the cast are people that probably really only the very biggest film buffs will recognize, but it can be said that all the women in here (Juliette Capieu e.g.) are pretty stunning. I was not sure if I should see this movie as another French movie I saw before that that had about the same ratings overall, also one César nomination, namely "Le lycéen", was absolutely awful, but eventually I decided to go watch this one too, mostly fueled by the difference in genre and the César nomination for lead actor Macaigne made me curious too and I am really glad I went as I enjoyed this film a lot.

This film had great strengths in several departments. The two leads were really good, especially Macaigne, but what was maybe even better was the writing. The dialogues between the two protagonists were top-notch as they kept elaborating on live, love and other aspects. The film does not even need to go into detail about certain inclusions that are just mentioned like the male protagonist's marriage (we don't even know if it still exists at the very end) or the other man the female protagonist met before the film started for example. Speaking of the marriage, the female protagonist says on one occasion that she is a bit curious to see a photo of his wife, but eventually decided against it, but she is in a bit of a similar position like we were in the audience. Keeping things abstract this way. The film is not about that. Perhaps seeing the man's wife would have meant for us to dislike him more than we do while watching. Let's not deny that, no matter how likable clumsy he may be. He is not antagonized here. But he gets a bit of punishment towards the end then anyway, or for him it is really big punishment as he realizes the woman he loves is with somebody else now and there is most likely no way back and he has screwed it up himself with his passivity. So for almost the entirety of the film you think that this movie is a statement pro casual romance relationship without duties and compromising, but in the end you could not be any more wrong because it messed up the male protagonist's life and also had a major impact on the female's happiness and you cannot be 100% sure if there is really no way back for her, but if this is the case that there is a way back, then there would be another big loser there, namely the other woman (not the wife) and maybe also their unborn child as it would have to grow up with one parent only. But these are only speculations.

By the way, the other woman or rather Scalliet, the actress who played her, reminded me a lot of Marion Cotillard, one of my favorites. In any case, if we go back to this film here, there is no romantic reunion in the end for the two main characters, but the moment the film ends is still a moment of joy which was nice after the long time they spent together and with that "moment of joy" I am of course talking about the two running next to each other. The male protagonist's quick change from begging her that she would return to him to appreciating the time they shared felt a bit rushed though, but overall I really have to dig deep for negative criticisms. I liked it a lot. The female protagonist also gave some insightful elaborations and thoughts about life. What stayed more memorable to me than her words about how passion is overrated and a rather despicable construct, were the words on nature. I actually heard the exact same somewhere else not too long ago, but I do not remember where. I mean the explanation that it is possible to miss lakes, mountains, trees or specific trees at least as trees are also everywhere in the city, but that it is not possible to miss nature as a whole because it is all around us, no matter if you restrict nature to bushes and small meadows or also include everything human-made the way it is done here. Even buildings and streets are considered nature. I am not sure if I agree with this specific train of thought, but it is nonetheless an idea that got me thinking. Then again, even with the slightly sad ending, this is a film that will make you laugh for sure. This is mostly thanks to the male protagonist's quirks here and there and how he struggles with certain (new) situations. His insecurity. It includes the first meetings with the female main character, but then also everything linked to the threesome. The shoe-shelf moment was hilarious, but also how he keeps talking and talking to deal with awkward situations and makes them even more awkward this way. A riot at times!

Oh and by the way, early on I mentioned the fact that we do not need to find out about certain background aspects to enjoy the film and I was talking about the two leads, but you can also say the same about the biggest supporting player here and her ailing romantic relationship with her man. Another component that made this a really nice watch for me was the music. It was the one piece that was the main theme pretty much, a work by Mozart I think, and we hear this one on several occasions, but not just that. Some really nice classical music was included from beginning to end and I had to download some of it after returning home. Ravi Shankar is also appreciated of course and so is his daughter who got mentioned once. If it is the same daughter I am thinking about. I feel like Mouret likes Shankar too and it was a bit of a tribute from him to the man's music. I could go on and on about moments and scenes I liked here: I think the idea how we jump ahead in time here and there and see the exact calendar date on the screen before each new scene was a simple, but effective inclusion. At the start, they met just once a week to keep it casual, but this frequency changes fast. I also liked how on one occasion it moved ahead quickly showing us dates on the screen, but nothing happened there, so it turned into fast-forward mode. The only other really dramatic scene next to the ending then is memorable because it was basically the opposite reflection of the ending. The female protagonist visits him at his workplace and he is really cold and distant and wants her to leave as soon as possible. This was a vital moment in their relationship. The woman wishes to get to know the man's work (setting) a little better, play a bigger role in his everyday life, but he totally blocks and does not let her in. It was also a breaking point of course if we look at how quickly another character does the exact opposite a little later and lets her in her life so quickly.

This is I assume where the homosexuality part came into play here that had the film score a Queer Palm nomination at Cannes and it makes sense. I mean the homosexual relationship prevails in the end apparently. For me they did everything right there. The film was never one bit about the female protagonist being with another woman, it was all about being with another being and that is how it should be. Very subtle, no emphasis on the gender or same-sex aspect. It all felt very natural and I wish other filmmakers could learn from this approach instead of shoving one awfully exaggerated moment after the next into our faces when it comes to this subject. And that crowds would realize it too that here we have the right approach. I applaud Mouret for how the way handled things. So many interesting scenes included in this film: I also liked one of the final shots when the three meet again a little later. On the one hand, it is a bit of a farewell scene between the two main characters, which was sad, especially how little the female protagonist was saying there, but I also really liked the show that showed us her walking on the left and the other two together on the right, which was a split screen. You can surely do some nice interpretations there in terms of how it was the two on the right vying for her affection and other approaches, but I will leave that to you completely. The one thing that can surely be said is that this was an utterly interesting movie and I think you can also learn something from it for your life and romantic involvements. Thanks Mouret and everybody else who worked on the film for restoring my faith in French films so quickly after the other recent disappointment I had before that. I highly recommend seeing this film that sadly probably never could get made here in Germany with the state my country's film industry is currently in. But that is another story. "Affäre" is also not such a nice word as "liaison" by the way. That is all.

a non-family drama

[dromasca · 8/10 · 10 January 2024]

'Chronique d'une liaison passagère' (2022 - distributed on the English-language market under the title 'Diary of a Fleeting Affair') gave me the opportunity to re-encounter the films of Emmanuel Mouret (I liked a lot 'Lady J.') and to discover an extremely talented French actor whom I had not noticed before Vincent Macaigne. Mouret has made one of those films that I like: with a script (of which the director is a co-author) that starts from a real life story told with sincerity, based on actors who create roles that they feel and understand, shoot with minimal means but with aesthetics and expressiveness.

As the title says (Emmanuel Mouret likes titles that are as explicit as possible), the film is about a temporary relationship that was not meant to last. Charlotte is a little over 50, Simon is a little under 50. She has been divorced for several years, he is married. He works as a prenatal therapist, we don't know if she is employed and if so, what profession she has. The two meet at a party where the initiative belongs to her ('I had seen two men, one danced with another woman the whole time, the second was you') but he gets caught up in the game, after the party they go for a drink in a bar, then they kiss for the first time. Two weeks later they meet again and the relationship begins. They both seem to have plenty of time at hand, the meetings are becoming more and more frequent. They aim for their relationship to be no-strings-attached and so it stays for a while, with long meetings, some sex, and lots of talking. But is such a connection between a man and a woman, without feelings arising, possible? How long can it last?

If there is a category of 'family drama' films, then 'Chronique d'une liaison passagère' would fall under the category of 'non-family drama'. The model is Bergman's 'Scenes from a Marriage', explicitly quoted in a film-in-film scene, but everything seems to mirror the premise of Bergman's married couple story. Charlotte has three children, Simon has two children, all of whom are in their teenage years or shortly after, but their fate and the impact of their bond on the children's feelings does not concern them for a second. We knew absolutely nothing about Simon's family. At one point Charlotte wants to see a photo of Simon's wife but quickly gives up on the idea. We only know that he can spend many hours, sometimes missing whole days or nights from home without his wife or children suspecting anything (!). The two build a seemingly perfect wall between their bond and the rest of the world. The threat to their no-strings-attached couple life only comes when they experiment with a 'threesome'. The younger Louise also comes from a marriage that is falling apart, and it is this connection started from an ad on an Internet site that will create the obligations that the two were avoiding, but in an unexpected direction. Up until that moment we had practically only Sandrine Kiberlain and Vincent Macaigne, the exceptional performers of the two main roles, on the screen. Now the couple will become a triangle, but a (again) non-family triangle. Between the woman and the man, Charlotte and Simon, there was always a gap in initiating and in externalizing feelings. By the time the man gathers courage, it is too late. The orbits of Venus and Mars are moving away and who knows if they will ever get closer again.

A movie like a diary - boring

[robertlorenz · 5/10 · 26 March 2023]

Unbelievably it is a movie shot according to a diary with different times and dates recorded and also shown on the screenplay. The movie exists of solely dialogues between the two lovers in changing settings and scenes. Each scene is not long, so in the end it is an accumulation of different places and circumstances the viewer will become a witness of. However the settings and scenes are nice and beautiful, the two main actors are fitting them in a puristic way. Except from the dialogues nothing much more is happening and those longlasting and non-stopping dialogues become monotone, might also be the voice of the translators as I have seen the movie in German. The emotions and feelings merely got expressed strongly, so the viewer can feel acquainted to the actors. The content of the dialogues are in detail and both express their thoughts and wishes bluntly and without much emotional expression, neither through their faces or gesture. So the movie could also be a podcast to be heard by the audience, the result would nearly be the same.