Themes: Breakups and Divorces, Americans Abroad, Infidelity
Main Cast: Kate Hudson, Naomi Watts, Jean-Marc Barr, Leslie Caron, Stockard Channing
Release Year: 2003
Country: US/FR
Run Time: 115 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Based on the 1997 National Book Award-nominated novel of the same name by Diane Johnson (co-writer of the script for Stanley Kubrick's The Shining), Le Divorce is a romantic comedy from director James Ivory. Revisiting the "Americans in France" theme that Ivory explored in 1998's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, the film stars Kate Hudson as Isabel Walker. When she receives word that her pregnant poetess sister Roxy (Naomi Watts) has been left by her philandering French husband, artist Charles-Henri de Persand (Melvil Poupaud), Isabel offers her help and moral support. As the depressive Roxy struggles with the separation proceedings -- which include the rights to ownership of a work of art that's a family heirloom -- Isabel takes a job with author Olivia Pace and has a fling with the bohemian Yves (Romain Duris). But things get complicated when the younger, more impudent sister decides instead to pursue Charles' uncle, the snooty, married diplomat Edgar (Thierry Lhermitte), and when a mysterious man (Matthew Modine) starts stalking Roxy. Eventually, the rest of the plucky Walker clan has to come to the aid of the siblings. Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston co-star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Review
There are some mild attempts at social commentary in Le Divorce, but the film is too lightweight to qualify as a serious drama. It's also too tastefully genteel for biting social satire and the characters aren't sufficiently well developed for gripping drama, despite some melodramatic (and contrived) plot developments. Kate Hudson doesn't manage to flesh out Isabel Walker to make her seem multi-layered or even particularly engaging, and the film doesn't make much effort to get inside her head, so the movie isn't much of a character study, either. These problems would be surmountable if the film worked as a frothy romantic comedy, but it's too dull and passionless, and neither playful nor funny enough. It's also cluttered with underwritten supporting characters, but at least this provides talented actors such as Glenn Close, Bebe Neuwirth, and Stephen Fry a chance to provide relatively memorable performances in their small roles. Other than that, however, the movie doesn't offer much. ~ Todd Kristel, All Movie Guide
Annette Trumel - Casting, Richard Hawley - Co-producer, Paul Bradley - Co-producer, Carol Ramsey - Costume Designer, George Every - First Assistant Director, James Ivory - Director, John David Allen - Editor, Ted Field - Executive Producer, Scott Kroopf - Executive Producer, Erica Huggins - Executive Producer, Rahila Bootwala - Line Producer, Richard Robbins - Composer (Music Score), Frederic Benard - Production Designer, Pierre Lhomme - Cinematographer, Ismail Merchant - Producer, Michael Schiffer - Producer, Ludovic Henault - Sound/Sound Designer, James Ivory - Screenwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Screenwriter, Diane Johnson - Book Author
A young American woman called Isabel Walker (Kate Hudson) travels to Paris to visit her pregnant sister Roxy (Naomi Watts). Roxy's husband Charles-Henri left her for his Russian lover, Magda Tellman. As Isabel secretly begins two affairs with French men from different social classes and Magda's husband begins harassing Roxy, the two families fight over the ownership rights of a long-lost masterpiece.
Opening title music was Paul Misraki's "Qu'est-ce qu'on attend pour être heureux", sung by Patrick Bruel & Johnny Hallyday from Bruel's CD "Entre deux". End title music was Serge Gainsbourg's "L'Anamour", sung by Jane Birkin from her CD "Version Jane". But the film's Hermès's handbag was a Kelly Bag, not a Birkin quelqu´un m´a dit, carla bruni.
Reaction
Le Divorce was given an initial limited release on August 8, 2003 in 34 theaters where it grossed $516,834 on its opening weekend. It went into wide release on August 29, 2003 in 701 theaters where it grossed $1.5 million on its opening weekend. The film went on to make $9 million in North America and $3.9 in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $12.9 million.[2]
Le Divorce received largely mixed to negative reviews. It has a 38% rating on a Rotten Tomatoes and a 51 metascore on Metacritic. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and felt that it did not "work on its intended level, because we don't care enough about the interactions of the enormous cast. But it works in another way, as a sophisticated and knowledgeable portrait of values in collision".[3] In his review for the New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, "As it is, Le Divorce is tasteful, but almost entirely without flavor. It is tough work to sit through a comedy made by filmmakers with so little sense of timing and no evident sense of humor".[4]Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote, "I'm disappointed to report that Hudson and Watts have no chemistry as sisters, perhaps because Watts never seems like the expatriate artiste she's supposed to be playing".[5] In his review for the Village Voice, David Ng wrote, "Indeed, featuring a boatload of intercontinental stars who have little to do, Le Divorce uncannily embodies its privileged bilingual milieu. At worst, it suggests a documentary of its own lavish wrap party".[6]Premiere magazine's Glenn Kenny gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "the picture is a nice return to form for Ivory and company, as well as a welcome stretch for Kate Hudson, whose luminous talents, I fear, are going to be hidden under bushels of stupid Hollywood romantic comedies for the foreseeable future".[7] In his review for The New York Observer, Andrew Sarris wrote, "The film's greatest achievement, however, is in keeping a dizzying variety of characters at odds with each other without any breach of good manners, and without descending to facile stereotypes and caricatures".[8]
