mamasakhlisashvili Great French movie.Tony: "You know you can't make me happy. Me neither. I didn't make you happy. Let's stop this charade!"Beautifully acted. But the realism makes a tough watch.

DVR_Brale I've already written about chemistry between Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni in The Family Man and between Rebecca Hall and Jason Sudeikis in Tumbledown. But chemistry between Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Bercot surpasses everything I've ever seen. In all ups and downs love brings, two of them were able to maintain the same connection throughout the entire movie.So far, I've seen Vincent Cassel starring in Irreversible and playing Jacques Mesrine in L'ennemi public n°1; two great movies. But his performance in Mon Roi is better than those two - maybe the single greatest performance I've ever seen. His delivery was amazingly realistic - like he didn't even act but acted like in everyday normal life. After seeing Mon Roi Vincent Cassel became Georgio Milevski for me.Georgio Milevski initially appeared to me as an adulterous, drug using psycho. Nothing more. Maybe charming and funny psycho and hence a dangerous psycho. But as I continued to watch the movie I couldn't help myself not to feel some sympathy for him. Maybe there was something frank and loving about him. Maybe he's loving at the core of his heart which has been ruined by addictions. My reason told me there was nothing good about him but my heart told me a different story - that in which Georgio sincerely struggles to overcome what he had become for the sake of his partner. I'm still not sure who he really is and that makes me uncomfortable because the same feeling must have gone through Tony's head. That ignorance may be the reason she allowed herself to submit to him. I think this attitude lies at the very heart of "can't live with, can't live without" relationships. That's why this impersonation may be the best I've ever seen - it made me feel disturbed and angry but sensible as well since there just is something mysterious about Georgio.Emmanuelle Bercot played Tony - deeply committed but deeply inside broken women who tolerates more than she should. After seeing Tony's struggles I asked myself again a question which begets a decent answer: why do we remain committed to relationships which bring only pain and misery? Is that love? Can love be destructive towards yourself? No. It's addiction which makes us stick to destructive relationships. Georgio and Tony are somehow very alike: he's addicted to drug and partying but Tony's addicted to him. They're both addicts struggling to quit - Georgio taking drugs and Tony dating Georgio.The way I interpreted a relationship between Tony's physical rehab and her reminiscence of a relationship is the following: her physical rehab is just a vivid analogy of her psychical rehab; the same way she has to treat her knee in order to be repaired is the way she has to treat her heart. With patience, tenderness and help of other loving people.In conclusion: this is a type of movie which may touch you deeply if you were ever involved in tumultuous relationship. You may find looking at your past or present relationship as a third person since Mon roi may bring forth some memories.

Mobithailand 'Mon Roi' ("My King"), which was selected to compete in the Cannes Film Festival, is a typical French tale of a tortuous relationship between a highly charismatic man (Georgio) and a woman (Tony) who he charms into marriage.Most of the movie is told in flashbacks. Tony is in rehabilitation following a serious Skiing accident in which there is a suggestion that it might have been a deliberate attempt at suicide. Here she meets some much younger, diverse characters who offer her support and become firm friends. It is during this time that she looks back over her life with Georgio.The two were very much in love, and at first, things go very well. Georgio owns a smart restaurant and Tony is carried away with his lifestyle and his 'joie de vivre'. He sweeps her off her feet, even though there are a number of early warning signs that things may eventually go a bit awry.He takes her to a wedding ceremony without advance warning where he happens to be the best man; then she meets one of his ex-girlfriends (Agnes) who is working at Georgio's restaurant, and who accuses Tony of stealing her boyfriend. Next, Georgio insists that Tony becomes pregnant – and when she duly complies, the two get married.Things get worse. On hearing the news of the marriage, Agnes tries to kill herself and in the aftermath, Georgio insists on taking care of her. The newly married couple fight many times and separate, only to reconcile again. By this time Georgio is living in his own apartment for much of the time and Tony catches him with a strange girl in his bed.There is much more, but although my review does contain a few spoilers, I won't tell you what happens and completely ruin it for those who want to watch it.Very few western couples succeed in remaining together for their entire lives, and this movie is a typical story of incapability. Despite the unquenchable fiery love between them, it is clear that love alone is not enough to support a marriage.The clever flashbacks, the high production values and the outstanding acting of the entire cast, including the young people Tony meets at the rehabilitation centre and Tony's brother and his girlfriend, who act as Tony's counsellors, make this movie a real gem to watch.But it is the two central characters played by Emmanuelle Bercot (Tony) and Vincent Cassel who plays a blinder as Georgio that makes this film so watchable and believable. Bercot picked up the best actress gong at the Cannes Film Festival.'Mon Roi' is a masterpiece of French filmmaking, and they didn't need a 'cop whodunit' or a mass shooting or a hostage-taking or a terrorist outrage to have me glued to the screen throughout its two hours + length.

Pasha Ivanov Tony is recovering from a leg trauma in a rehabilitation centre on the border of the sea. But the real trauma is in her soul. Reflecting on what brought her to this point in her life she is remembering the affair with handsome and unpredictable Georgio, and their turbulent relationship over the last ten years. It brought her happiness but also a lot of pain. How soon will she be back on her feet again? Will she ever?If you like dramatic love stories you may instantly recognize the premise of the film, it had been used hundreds of times. A heroine going down the memory lane to figure out what had gone wrong. There's one thing, however, that makes MY KING to stand out – it is a very honest film with a very real, raw feel to every scene, performance and dialogue. The very intelligent but plain looking Tony seems like an odd match to charismatic and larger than life Georgio, however the sparks that are flying on screen cannot be ignored. Their affair and their relationship are believable and over the course of the film you will learn them as intimately as if they were your close friends.There are a lot of jokes, but also a lot of sadness in the film. The film's episodic structure may be a turn off for many, but there is a feeling that the director is always in control, leading the story the right way and fixing things as soon as the narrative begin to stumble a little.Instead of focusing on the fantastic performances from Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Bercot, I want to say a few words about Louis Garrel. He is only in a supporting role of Tony's younger brother, however his presence adds realism to the story and a much needed comic relief. He is one of those actors who make anything he is in a little better.MY KING gives us a very unusual relationship, but highlights the problems everyone can identify with. Without preaching or judgement this is an honest portrait of a marriage and love and everything else that comes with it.FOR MORE FRENCH FILM REVIEWS PLEASE VISIT MY WEBSITE:http://pashasfilms.blogspot.com.au/