Karl Self This is a nice romantic comedy about a French farmer who needs a wife (or cheap labourer) to run his farm, and who gets hitched to a young Romanian girl who needs money to raise her daughter.The big problem with this movie is that the girl is tragically miscast. She is played by a talented young actress, who unfortunately can't patch over the fact that she is so painfully clearly out of her love interest's league. She's one of those surreally waifish girls the French adore so much. It's a case of the beauty and the beast, and it just doesn't hold water. Apart from that, a good movie. Until the farmer's visit to Romania to pick up his wife, it's a hilarious comedy, after that it's a complex (if implausible), and surprisingly intriguing, love story.Michel Blanc is brilliant in a very difficult role. He's at the same time pompous and boyish, and would be the ideal match for an unlikely love story.The unsung star of this movie is the entremetteuse, Eva Darlan. She is vivacious, beautiful and terribly funny. The movie loses a lot when she drops out of the plot. I think she would have been a much better, and not least much more credible, Elena.Another problem with this movie is that they picked Romania as the rent-a-bride's country of origin. Fifteen years ago this would have been believable. Nowadays everybody knows that Romania isn't so bad as to make pretty girls so desperate to leave it that they'd gladly hitch up to a middle-aged French hillbilly. I don't understand why the writer didn't pick a more exotic and desperate country, Albania maybe or Ossietia or whatever.If you're looking for humour and don't mind a hefty dollop of implausible romance, this is your movie.

mensch-2 He's a recently widowed farmer. She's a Romanian immigrant. He 'chooses' her. She must adapt to life on an English farm. While this film has some amusing moments, along with truthful moments among the sub-Hollywood sentimentalism, overall it is a manipulative and shallow film. It could thus be written off as contrived piffle, but unfortunately it uses a very important subject – the plight of Eastern European immigrants and so-called 'mail-order' brides – to satisfy its high concept. Even within its own arrogant and sexist – why would a beautiful young woman fall for an unattractive farmer? – framework if fails to explore fully the ramifications of its setup. An amiable time-filler at best, but don't think about it too hard.

john-575 Each year in Australia Alliance Francaise in conjunction with Palace Cinemas run a French Film Festival in Feb/Mar 2007 which brings out a wide selection of the previous years best french films all sub titled in English for those francophiles here but who are not able to understand the spoken word.2007 we had a wide selection of films, Depardieu, Romain Duris and this small gem I'm reviewing here. Truly it was the pick of the whole festival and by a country mile.http://www.frenchfilmfestival.org/vi...4/Default.aspxI have not seen Michel Blanc before who must be in his late 50s. THe female lead Medeea Marinescu is actually Romanian and plays a Romanian woman who Michels character brings her to France when after his wife dies he finds himself short of hot meals, clean clothes and help around the farm. Since there are few prospects for a wife in the area, he engages a marriage agency to find some help.Medeea's character and performance in this film are fantastic. You can find her other work at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0547614/ I just hope this film opens some more doors for her. If you like warm hearted, romantic comedies this is cream. Deep down I believe every man is looking for an Elena SPOILER AHEAD At the end of the film I would be running towards Elena. I'm not sure if Ayme does. If a local distributor does not pick this up they are mad (12 months later this has not happened in Australia)A word of thanks to Antonio the boss of Palace Cinemas who was sitting in the foyer of the Westgarth Cinema last night and was kind enough to open the door for me when I was making my way back with a couple of hot chocolates and a brownie. Australia cinema goers and film festival fans have so much to thank you and your family for. Westgarth since you took over has a real buzz. We are very lucky to have a film enthusiast like you running a cinema chain. (If anyone saw the story of Anthonio's family story on ABC Dynasty series recently you will know what I mean. http://www.abc.net.au/dynasties/txt/s1790161.htm

Hari Nam This is a charming story of unlikely companions cast together by circumstance and hard choices. It is interesting to see how the protagonists use their situation, once they have committed initially to their self interests, to pay each other back, and with love and compassion eventually find what they do not expect. Each phase of this progression is clearly imprinted in the viewer's experience from both points of view in a very patient, but not slow, immersion into the characters' hearts and psyches. The effect of this is to erase the viewer's point of view and leave the audience with a memorable impression of the whole, which is beautiful to behold.