Themes: Looking For Love, Love Triangles, Twentysomething Life
Main Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, Emmanuel Salinger, Marianne Denicourt
Release Year: 1996
Country: FR
Run Time: 178 minutes
Plot
In this satiric comedy-drama from France, Paul (Mathieu Amalric) is an assistant professor of philosophy disenchanted with teaching and distracted enough that he can't (or won't) finish the dissertation that would allow him to become a full professor. Esther (Emmanuelle Devos) has been his girlfriend for nearly a decade; while he's no longer happy with the relationship, he has trouble working up the courage to break it off. He's smitten with Sylvia (Marianne Denicourt), the lover of his best friend Nathan (Emmanuel Salinger); Paul and Sylvia had a brief fling two years ago, and he can't get her out of his mind. However, once Paul gives Esther her walking papers, he starts chasing after Valerie (Jeanne Balibar), while also keeping his eye on Patricia (Chiara Mastroianni), the girlfriend of his cousin (and roommate) Bob (Thibault de Montalembert). It's hard to imagine Paul having much time to think about anything else amidst all this romantic tumult, but when Rabier (Michel Vuillermoz), a former friend, gets a top spot in Paul's department, it leads to an ongoing argument that both adds to and reflects the turmoil of his romantic life. Amalric's performance earned him a 1997 César Award as Most Promising Young Actor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
A serio-comic epic about late twenty-something stasis, Arnaud Desplechin's third film Comment Je Me Suis Dispute...(Ou Ma Vie Sexuelle) is a humorous, grave, and intellectually rigorous examination of commitment in all forms. Centering on reluctant philosophy professor/career graduate student Paul Dedalus and his small circle of friends and relatives, Desplechin weaves a visual and narrative labyrinth of flashbacks, dreams, and quotidian conversations that reveal facets of Paul's romantic entanglements with three brunettes, his conflicted feelings about professional advancement, and the fallout from his waffling. Though Dedalus and his cohorts can quote Milan Kundera and Søren Kierkegaard, their learnedness does not guarantee wisdom. Desplechin provides no easy answers to the central philosophical dilemma regarding how to make the most of one's life while absorbing the inevitable disappointments in love and work. A critically acclaimed selection for the Cannes Film Festival, Comment Je Me Suis Dispute... earned Mathieu Amalric the Most Promising Actor César for his performance as Paul, and confirmed Desplechin's place as one of the most intriguing new French directors to emerge in the 1990s. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
