jotix100 Lucas, a powerful entrepreneur, has commissioned a ceramic artist to create a center piece in the lobby where his offices are located. He is a demanding man not using to hearing the word NO from anyone of his employees. Elsa, the artist working on the project, clashes with Lucas as they first meet because he has no clue of what her work will be like when finished. Elsa walks out on the assignment, not before attracting the attention of Lucas.In order to keep control in his business, Lucas employs Roland, a sort of security man, who knows a lot about espionage and how to get whatever his boss demands. It becomes clear Lucas admires Elsa's spunk. Reality sets in when Elsa realizes without this job she is in danger of losing her precious oven, so she returns. Lucas, who wants to know all about the artist, sends Roland to place spying devices all over her apartment.Elsa finds herself flattered by the attention she is getting, but has no clue of Lucas' shenanigans. It will not take long before this pair finds they are in love with each other despite his duplicity and her reluctance to become involved."Can't This be Love" is an inspired French comedy by Pierre Jovilet, who co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Michael. The film keeps moving at a good speed, helped by the sure writing and the excellent cast assembled for the film. Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Bonnaire play the romantic pair, and one could not expect less from both these stars that have an easy chemistry that helps the success of the film. Francois Berleand, Kad Merad and the rest of the supporting players do good work for M. Jovilet.

DICK STEEL Directed by Pierre Jolivet, Could This Be Love contains all the trappings that would making Hollywood come knocking on its doors for the rights to a remake. You have your romantic leads, a rich industrialist and a talented artist, start off with being loggerheads, before the pursuit begins over conversation and comedy. There's the myriad of supporting characters like the secretary, driver and family, but the one which stood out in the film, was an inhouse investigator.When it comes to business, Lucas (Vincent Lindon) is unparalleled in his acumen, though he defers to his investigator Roland (Francois Berleand) to dig up any dirt on the competition or partners, or even his own staff, to have a second informed and unbiased opinion. Being estranged from his wife, he has no luck with women, especially when they're sent by competitors to fish for information. Hence the paranoia and fear with members of the opposite sex that he fancies. Elsa (Sandrine Bonnaire) is the artist commissioned for a project at his office lobby, and while he takes an almost instant liking to her, she's one tough nut to crack, so meanwhile, he sends Roland on his usual behind the scenes work.I guess nobody would like to be spied upon, especially not by someone whom you just come to know trivially. It tells you something, that there isn't a bedrock of trust to begin with, the very foundations that a relationship would be built upon. On one hand you fancy somebody, and on the other you'd come to appreciate if you could get the lowdown and having some honest beans spilled – if bad, then walk away, otherwise the pursuit could continue until such time some degree of dirt get dug out, then all bets are off.For the most parts this movie played out like your standard romantic comedy, and my, the comedic moments were funny given the timing of Vincent Lindon. I especially enjoyed the extended scene of anticipation, dread and regret, when he gets invited back to Elsa's apartment which is rigged by surveillance devices, when he just couldn't respond the come hither opportunities, knowing that his employee would or could be watching. And it were moments such as these – running afoul of his own mitigation of fear, or having his excuses to take some time off from work for his romantic escapades, that blow up in his face.The chemistry between Sandrine Bonnaire and Vincent Lindon worked perfectly, that you'll have no qualms to have this couple charm you into sitting through what is essentially formula, where boy meets, pursues, loses the girl of his dreams. It doesn't however bore you with too many saccharine sweet moments, but what it does accurately, was perhaps to paint the culture of fear amongst those who dare not take that leap of faith, which probably is required by anyone wanting to get into a romantic life with someone else.

herjoch This new film by director Pierre Jolivet,who gained my attention 10 years ago with his dark and sociologically precise "Fred", is a little gem.Yes, it is a typical romantic comedy ,so the happy end is obvious and never beyond questions;but the way to this is more realistic than in most other rom-CMOS.The film is a kind of comedic meditation about the possibility of love in a time so decisively dominated by annoying communication technology.It shows how in a capitalistic world the economic sphere infiltrates the private life of people and how difficult it gets to separate them.All those technical gimmicks remind me of old Tati films.The dialogs are lively and the performances top-notch.Bonnaire, one of my favorite actresses since I saw "Sans toit ni loi" for the first time, is as beautiful and compelling as ever,beyond that she displays a comical talent,that directors should use more often.Lindon is convincing as a control freak as well as an inept lover.For sure there are some weaknesses: Not all of the twists in the plot are useful and make sense, for example the episode with the sumo ringer is only ridiculous, and the slapstick humour is sometimes a little childish.The final conclusion,that love has something to do with risk of jumping into the unknown, of course is not new,but in our time, in which so many people want to obtain security in all areas of life, it is nice to be mentioned one more time.

writers_reign This is yet another of those 'little' films the French do so well and nobody else seems to do at all. It' never going to set the world on fire and, to be fair, it never aspires to; there are no 'showcase' roles and nobody feels the need to chew the scenery, it's just a small, solid entertainment with the leads placed in two of the safest pairs of hands in the business, Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Bonnaire, who are given top-class support by an ensemble headed by Francois Berleand and Kad Merad. Director Philippe Jolivet worked with Bonnaire on his last movie but one, Filles Uniques, which was in similar vein. The plot, such as it is, features Lindon as head of a large company which has hired Bonnaire to create a large piece of ceramic Art for the foyer. Clearly knowing a lovely girl when he sees one he falls for her but because he has once been bitten (his ex wife was heavily into Industrial Espionage) he is twice shy so he prevails on the Head of Security, Francois Berleand, to both check out her background and bug her apartment. With this much information you can write the rest yourself and chances are you'd be right on the money but as I keep saying it's all in the wrist and the wrists involved here are as supple as they come. A lovely way to spend an evening.