Et soudain tout le monde me manque

My daughter literally dragged me to see this movie, Et soudain tout le monde me manque, a movie I did not want to see… I tried to argue in favour of Detective Dee, but to no avail: she had already seen the movie once and wanted to see it again! It was not completely unbearable, but, despite good actors, Mélanie Laurent (the cinema owner in Inglourious Basterds) being the backbone of the movie, the plot was rather poor, predictable and unimaginative! The soundtrack is however fantastic, with Regina Spektor, Nina Simone, and great original pieces by Nathan Johnson (the redeeming scene of the movie is when the father Elie is improving on his contrabass!). Of course, my daughter completely disagrees and think the movie is terrific. Here is her review, translated from her blog:

I went back to see it the same week as I liked it so much. “Et soudain, tout le monde me manque” is about a young woman Justine who smuggles radio shots from her work and has always had little evidence of love from her father Eli who is now 60 years old. This divorced and remarried father is about to get a new baby from his new wife Susan. Justin lives with Don, her half-sister and her boy-friend Bertrand, who is a bit dumb but nice. Justine who collects former lovers falls in love again and her father wants to know the new guy, as he secretly monitors her love life and keeps in touch with all those lovers, without Justin’s knowledge.

Why should you see this movie? First, because Mélanie Laurent and Michel Blanc play beautifully, and together they make us think of a modern family. This is also a movie where characters do not constantly change clothes. This film is complete  in the sense there are comic moments throughout the movie with the jokes of the step-brother, the mood of the father who remains like a child, the free and reassuring mind of Mélanie Laurent. Those comic moments are unlike any other. The cast is great, all players have their place and there is an appearance by Kev Adams. There are also Manu Payet and Geraldine Nakache as second roles. I have always loved Melanie Laurent and I find she keeps the same personality throughout her films, with a bit of a similar character. And I must acknowledge she is beautiful. The music is very much in tune with the scenes of the film, and it isn’t just a music with paroles or well-known recent pieces, it is very well chosen with unknown artists that one would love to have on cd’s. From Nina Simone, Regina Spektor’s, False Fix, Mickey Avalon … A superb soundtrack, in short!  The movie is original with Justine making art-pieces from X-rays, Elie a golf fan who plays with his daughter’s ex-lovers, a Starbuck’s plot about the names, games about Sami’s unknown father…, not to mention references like Mohamed Ali, Steve, Debbie Harry, Jesus, Moses, Aristotle, Marilyn … “Et soudain, tout le monde me manque” soberly reports about fathers and daughters, more in the fashion of father-son or mother-daughter relations, about a love never confessed, the little lies that become too large in the end, freedom and  especially the fact that life moves too fast. At last, this film relates to everyone, there are trade marks but simple trades like shoe salesmen, book translator, teacher, … Current family situations that abound today: abandonment, adoption, divorce, remarriage, birth, sickness, … that pertains to all audiences which can see it. I will say no more as one must check by oneself and even if we have a good laugh here and there, there are also touching moments, real moments of cinema.  I do not think this film will get the success it deserves, but I urge you to go see it!