[CRITICAL] HOLY LOVE

Definitely a road movie relating to the Agricultural Show are showcased in 2016. After The Cow, here is HOLY LOVE… it’s A nice name and a nice trailer ! We imagine a film that is at once funny and poignant, a father renews ties with his son by walking through the wine route. We are looking forward to seeing it for the first time together on-screen the duo Poelvoorde / Depardieu. We already heard this last take his soft voice, his intonation, touching, of the great roles such as Cyrano. It is carried away by the music, seduced by these images of our sweet France as we love it, attracted by a cast that seems pretty rich, looking forward to revel in what promises to be a praise of love and wine. What is it then ?

And well not to be disappointed it is necessary to know the filmmakers Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern , and somewhat their filmography (as actors, writers or directors) otherwise you may well remain puzzled in front of the twist of the movie… If you know they are known for their universe is ” absurd “, you never have to wait, therefore, is not a coherent history, and this will already be it. Freed of the effort of understanding that do you would lead to nothing, it could even be that you were able to enjoy the creative side, or even poetic of these two friends. For example, they are both the authors and/or actors of Groland on canal+ Channel – Kervern are embodying, at random, a journalist and an alcoholic. For their seventh feature-length film (which we account Mammuth), we can say that they have remained true to themselves and most of their “codes” : HOLY LOVE is a comedy atypical, a road movie, a succession of improbable meetings, dealing with the “little people” as they like to do and interpreted by their favourite actors.

However, even knowingly, HOLY LOVE can still surprise you. Yet there was enough there to make a great movie, but we can’t help but think that something has ” slipped “. To tell the truth, one wonders if Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern have not drank as much as their characters as they write the scenario. In fact, it begins quite well, in the agricultural show, therefore, with a very realistic in which it plunges quickly. Everything looks ” normal “, and then Jean (Depardieu) decides on a whim to take his son Bruno (Poelvoorde) in a journey to get closer to him, driven by Mike (Vincent Lacoste), a taxi driver in the mood and the sufficiency property in paris… in The course of their journey, the three men will be amorous encounters with women expected to ” prove themselves “.

Begins and a succession of caméos of all kinds, the more surprising the one than the other, Michel Houellebecq to Chiara Mastroiani passing by Ovidie (the former porn actress now filmmaker, journalist and writer). The problem is that the further you advance in the movie, the more things become improbable, until they reach their climax at the last scene. This sweet delirium, difficult to elicit any emotion, all the more sympathy for the protagonists. So, yes, it becomes funny all of a sudden the dialogues are very well written, playing on a sense of humor rather late. Until the end, the music is extremely successful, exciting, alive, makes us want to believe that developers will fall back on their legs, but to no avail.

“HOLY LOVE is a comedy atypical, a road movie, a succession of improbable meetings, dealing with small people how absurd of Delepine and Kervern.”

The actors were beautiful to be put in value and to be at the height of our expectations, this is not enough. To mention only the main, the two holy monsters are, not surprisingly, perfect and credible in their roles. Vincent Lacoste , meanwhile, is still found in the skin of a young man a little arrogant, with a superior air, limit unsympathetic (as in Hippocrates , or Lolo), which suits him so well that he will eventually be associated with personally to this temperament, in the manner of a Bacry whom it is said that he plays the ” Bacry “. The bonus of the casting remains, however, Céline Sallette , who has never been so sublime in this role. She embodies Venus, bright red hair, riding proudly on his horse with bare feet like a goddess fallen from the sky.

Despite this nice casting, difficult, however, to be convinced by this film. However, it is equally difficult to say anything bad because this is not the talent available to the filmmakers, nor the originality. You can even go as far to find their next “lunar” friendly. However, the imagination of Benoît Delepine and Gustave Kervern we leave it for the least perplexed : the initiatory voyage of the farmers starts at the salon of Agriculture, rubber boots, and their feet firmly in the earth. Then, the more the protagonists are progressing on the road of wines, the more they drink, and the more they took off. Both literally and figuratively, they end up not touching the ground, perched in a cabin nestled in the trees !

Think also of the vision of the world and of men that they offer through this adventure ? It would seem, according to them, that the redemption comes from the Holy Love, not the wine but the feeling. The fact of feeling loved, or just the illusion of being, plus a dose of sex would make them happy the more depressed men… And much like the film in its entirety, we do not really know whether to laugh or cry, and we wonder if it would not be better to be slightly inebriated to enjoy it.

Stephanie Ayache

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