asmailrabbit I really wanted to like this movie. The opening shots were beautiful, and there were some very well thought out and artistic angles and scenes throughout the movie, like many European films, but overall it failed for me. I first started noticing it when they began showing the beautiful gossamer fabric blowing in the doorway over and over and over again. Soon it became droning and devoid of the magical and suggestive quality it had in its first appearance. That didn't bother me too terribly much, but then it started happening with the two main characters, Hugo and Frederic. I realize that all the scenes with them sitting in the chairs in the dirt outside the house were probably each reminiscences on a single event, but it was still torturous. There were so many of those scenes, and they were boring. The dialogue seemed pretentious on Hugo's part, though in Frederic's fumbling, bumbling way he managed to remain somewhat charming. Still, I found myself praying that they wouldn't cut back to the boring chair scene. I vowed to fast forward after the fourth time, but I didn't. Couldn't they mix it up a little? Break up that conversation, talk and walk, talk and swim, SOMETHING else. I don't know what was so great about Hugo, anyway. He was a vulgar, rude, lecherous, run-of-the-mill playboy and he was a terrible dad. **/***** stars.

Roland E. Zwick Set in the stunningly beautiful Provencal region of France, "The Man of My life" looks at how both passion and responsibility play an equally crucial role in defining who we are and how we love.Frederic (Bernard Campan) and Frederique (Lea Drucker) are a happily married couple who enjoy entertaining large groups of people at the country home where they vacation. One day, Frederic invites their next door neighbor, a single gay man by the name of Hugo (Charles Berling), over for a get-together with family and friends. Soon, Frederic and Hugo have struck up a friendship largely centered on their mutual addiction to running and their propensity to talk the night away over such weighty matters as love, passion, responsibility, freedom, commitment and marriage. Hugo tries to convince Frederic that his role as dutiful husband and father has robbed him of his individuality and earlier lust for life, while Hugo, spurned by his father at a young age, comes to his own understanding of the importance of family by the end. There's an obvious sexual attraction between the two men, but the movie goes far beyond the typical coming-out drama to explore romantic passion in all its myriad complexities and forms.Frederic is torn between the desire to continue loving the wife who so obviously loves him and who has provided a stable home for him and their children - and this new found feeling for Hugo that he can, in no way, shape or form, even begin to understand. The movie never feels the need to judge any of the characters; it presents them simply as well-meaning but flawed human beings who struggle on a daily basis, as all of us do, with an array of emotions, needs and desires that continually come into conflict with one another.The screenplay by Zabou Breitman and Agnes de Sacy employs long, winding conversations to reveal the truths about the characters and the relationships that help to define them. Moreover, the sensuous, bucolic setting, far from being a mere backdrop to the foreground action, actually serves to pull us into the lives of these people as they while away a languid summer swimming, hiking and exploring the inner workings of their own roiled psyches.In his direction, Breitman has come up with interesting, slightly abstract ways of filming the commonplace details of everyday life, utilizing extreme close-ups, distorted angles, catawampus framing and mosaic-style storytelling to impart a lyrical tone to the film.Superb performances by the three leading players also add greatly to the emotional richness of the piece.With a great deal of insight and tenderness, "The Man of My Life" presents us with a subtly provocative, beautifully realized and psychologically complex view of the human heart.

Gordon-11 This film is about a married man developing romantic feelings with a charming gay neighbour.The plot is simple but special. It is striking that the plot blurs the distinction between homosexuality and heterosexuality. The main character, Frédéric, is heterosexual but develops feelings for a man. Hugo, on the other hand, is homosexual but is revealed to have a child. It's a good way to say that love has no boundaries.The way Frédéric develops feelings for Hugo is beautiful. The gradual disintegration of Frédéric's marriage is portrayed well, and Frédérique's desperation in the end of the film is palpable. This film is beautiful and engaging. It deserves to be viewed by more people.

rasecz Summer somewhere in France. A couple and their young son invite family and friends to enjoy a warm rural holiday at their old but comfortable summer house. A neighbor, a middle-aged single man, is invited to join the first night's outdoor party. It is quickly revealed that the man is gay. He and the husband start a tentative friendship. How far will it go? Beyond the apparently simple plot line, what struck me about this film were the visual aspects. A playful camera delights us with unconventional angles, framing, superpositions and transitions. Combining beautiful cinematography and great editing, the end result is a superb film. The tango music is icing on the cake.