When Blanche (Virginie Efira) and Gregoire (Melvil Poupaud) serendipitously meet at a summer house party, they fall into the kind of seemingly perfect love that you’d never believe was possible unless you had experienced it yourself. She’s a French literature teacher who has grown tired of waiting for her soulmate to arrive, and he’s the tall, handsome stranger who just so happens to be ready to discuss Camus and Molière for hours on end. They laugh at the same jokes, have earth-shattering sex, and create the kind of shared language that forms when a couple shares their most intimate experiences. It isn’t long before a summer of love leads to an engagement ring and a baby on the way.
The elegance with which “Just the Two of Us” director Valérie Donzelli shoots their whirlwind romance only makes it more jarring when, 20 minutes into the film, we...
The elegance with which “Just the Two of Us” director Valérie Donzelli shoots their whirlwind romance only makes it more jarring when, 20 minutes into the film, we...
- 6/13/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
A seemingly blissful union rapidly crumbles in Valérie Donzelli’s Just the Two of Us, a domestic abuse-drama presented as a harrowing-if-simplified psychological thriller from which escape seems near-hopeless. It’s impossible for Virginie Efira and Melvil Poupaud to give a bad performance; this drama certainly doesn’t break the streak. Yet Donzelli and Audrey Diwan’s black-and-white, overworked script is missing the kind of nuance each lead exudes in their physicality as they navigate a suffocating relationship where the smallest action or word can unleash a monster.
As one might expect, the monster in this case is Grégoire (Poupaud), a suave charmer who first romances Rose at a party. Blinded by love, she excuses some warning signs: Grégoire leaving with no explanation after their first night together and a dig at his general distaste for bangs when she sports them. After an unexpected pregnancy, the two get married and jet off to the countryside,...
As one might expect, the monster in this case is Grégoire (Poupaud), a suave charmer who first romances Rose at a party. Blinded by love, she excuses some warning signs: Grégoire leaving with no explanation after their first night together and a dig at his general distaste for bangs when she sports them. After an unexpected pregnancy, the two get married and jet off to the countryside,...
- 6/12/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Melvil Poupaud, an actor in Francois Ozon’s “By the Grace of God” and Maiwenn’s “Jeanne du Barry,” will receive the French Cinema Award from Unifrance, the French promotion organization.
The ceremony will be held on Jan. 18 at the Culture Ministry during the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema market. The French Cinema Award was created in 2016 to honor actors, filmmakers and producers who have contributed to making French cinema shine abroad. Past recipients include actor Juliette Binoche, director Olivier Assayas and producers Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam, among others.
Poupaud started his career as a child actor in the 1980 and has worked with auteurs such as Raoul Ruiz, Eric Rohmer, James Ivory and Ozon, with whom he has made four movies. His latest film directed by Ozon, “By the Grace of God,” won the Silver Bear in Berlin and earned him a Cesar nomination for best actor. He also worked with several well-established female directors,...
The ceremony will be held on Jan. 18 at the Culture Ministry during the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema market. The French Cinema Award was created in 2016 to honor actors, filmmakers and producers who have contributed to making French cinema shine abroad. Past recipients include actor Juliette Binoche, director Olivier Assayas and producers Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam, among others.
Poupaud started his career as a child actor in the 1980 and has worked with auteurs such as Raoul Ruiz, Eric Rohmer, James Ivory and Ozon, with whom he has made four movies. His latest film directed by Ozon, “By the Grace of God,” won the Silver Bear in Berlin and earned him a Cesar nomination for best actor. He also worked with several well-established female directors,...
- 1/4/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
On the face of it, Grégoire is the kind of husband that makes many a woman wish hers would shape up a bit. He’s tall, strong and stylish, with a job in banking that comfortably pays the bills, and the sculpted good looks of, well, the actor Melvil Poupaud — who plays him with enough upfront charm to cover a slight chill at the edges. All that, and he dotes on his wife Blanche (Virginie Efira), insisting on a degree of togetherness that makes clear his fidelity. Those observing more closely, however, may have other concerns: Why is he constantly calling her at work? Why does she never go out with friends? That he’s a psychotic abuser isn’t played as a surprise twist in Valérie Donzelli’s nervy, finely acted domestic thriller “Just the Two of Us” — even as it dabbles in genre tropes, the film presents an all-too-unremarkable reality for many women.
- 6/29/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
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