birkenkrahe
I loved this movie, too - though I understand most of what those, who criticized it, said. But what the heck: when I found it in our local video store, a safe 10 years after its first release, I felt lonely, morose and sorry for myself. After the movie, I longed to travel to Paris again, and to the Big Apple, to meet people, cry and shout and make love. Worked for me! Love this movie to bits! I am going to see it again and again - much like "Groundhog Day", also not the most glamorous or most refined of movies, but a feast for the heart of the lonely hunter. Go and treat yourself to some French Fries. Freedom Fries? Not in this movie: it's a result of bilateral, transatlantic love. Actually, just love is enough.
scheftj-1
This film seems to be a litmus test of some kind. The majority of viewers, both prof. critics and laypeople, don't like. But a sizable minority, like me, are ga-ga over it. I find it funnier and more intelligent each time I watch it. I liked it the first, but it has gotten better each of the four times I have watched it since. Juliette Binoche is an absolute revelation as an actress. Watch her facial expressions change instantly as she responds to other people. She is marvelous. There is an incredibly funny dialogue between her and her French friend who lives in US, played by an actress, also very good, whose last name, i believe, is Buttle. Many of the commentators seem to believe that this dialogue shows the two women to be stupid, but I disagree. What the whole film slyly hints at is the stupidity of conventional, sectarian, ideologically driven psychoanalysis. These women, in their innocence of ideology, see thru the veil. As does Beatrice in her role as makeshift therapist. What makes her a wonderful therapist is her RESPONSIVENESS, as indicated above, to what is happening in the moment with each patient as an individual. Unhampered by rigid doctrine, she gives each what they need, not a load of ideology. I would love to see the actual script, but haven't been able to find it.
Masmi
I'd never seen Binoche really act before. In "Blue" and "English Patient", all she needed was to do her photogenic pose. The camera and director took care of the rest. They created the illusion of depth of emotion from one static expression she knew very well to display. I admit that that "Binoche look" is enchanting. Hers is a very attractive face. But calling what she does in these movies acting seems to me an insult to the actresses who know their trade really well, like Emma Thompson. In "Couch" she is required to more than looking pretty. She actually talks and show emotions. And the effect is so amateurish, the personality she plays is so phony, it disrupts the pace and the harmony of the movie. With the basic material, which is right for a light comedy, and with another actress, e.g. Julia Roberts, this movie could have been charming. With Emma Thompson, it could have been memorable. With Binoche, the movie did not live up to its potential.
cranmer
The basic tension of opposites attract is carried out in an exquisitely delicate manner. A New York psychiatrist exchanges apartments with a woman in Paris. He is orderly tidy controlled. She is - well opposite. He moves into her disheveled apartment complete with bad plumbing, a roof in disrepair and the importunities of her crazed lover. She moves into his and is beset by his patients demanding to be treated. She obliges and with the help of her friend (who has had analysis) learns to say "uh huh" and repeat the last word of the patient's sentences. They get better. His dog is happier. A nice point is he is shown as competent as her lover starts to feel better when talking to him. This is the last straw that drives him back to New York.He can't go back to his apartment, but stops by, sees his patients coming out looking better. Fascinated, he makes an appointment. The relationship unfolds.The cool thing about this movie is it is not forced like so many modern comedies.You realize how strident such recent comedies such as "One Fine Day" and "Fools Rush In" are in comparison.So wonderfully delicate.
AD
