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Marius And Jeannette

1997, Movie, NR, 102 mins

Marius And Jeannette: Review

MARIUS AND JEANNETTE | MARIUS ET JEANNETTE
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A love story dedicated to unknown workers everywhere, this French import, set in a rundown Marseilles neighborhood, boasts impressive performances from leads Gerard Meylan and Ariane Ascaride, who won a 1997 Cesar Award for her portrayal of Jeannette. The single mother of Magali (Laetitia Pesenti) and Malek (Milou Nacer), Jeannette is probably too old to be a check-out girl and definitely too feisty to put up with her boss's petty harassment. While she doesn't have much materially, Jeanette does have a companionable crew of neighbors, all living off a common courtyard a la the community Jean Renoir depicts in his masterful THE CRIME OF MONSIEUR LANGE. Jeannette meets security guard Marius when she breaks into an unused cement factory, intending to "borrow" two cans of paint with which to spruce up her dingy apartment. Marius intercedes, but later drops off some paint and offers to do the place for her. Marius and Jeannette suffer what Celine describes as "not having enough music in their hearts to make life dance," and director Robert Guediguian uses their love story to expound bluntly on the injustices of capitalism, the marginalization of the underclass and the temptation to cling to a destructive individualism in matters large and small. This doesn't exactly make for spine-tingling cinema: The script is often talky and obvious, and the direction is pedestrian. But the film succeeds on its own terms, showing you something you see every day but choose to ignore. leave a comment --Sandra Contreras
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