French Lovers Fret, Sing In Not-So-Silly ‘love Songs’
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Who else would take a story about three young, beautiful, contemporary Parisians having a threesome and turn it into a strange musical with dreary songs about tragic romance, doomed love and gray skies?
The Tallahassee Film Society is showing director Christophe Honore’s chancy, brooding “Love Songs” this weekend at All Saints Cinema. It’s sure to divide audiences into two camps — those who are seduced by its unconventional twists on the musical genre and those who are annoyed by it (more sex, less singing!). Like all musicals in which characters existing in the real world suddenly erupt into song, it asks a lot from the viewer.
“Love Songs” begins as Ismael (Louis Garrel), who looks like a walking Pre-Raphaelite painting, and his live-in girlfriend, Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), have spiced up their long relationship by inviting Isamel’s co-worker Alice (Clotilde Hesme) to share their bed. Oui, but is the spicy, unconventional arrangement having the opposite effect on Ismael and Julie’s relationship?
“Love Songs” begins as Ismael (Louis Garrel), who looks like a walking Pre-Raphaelite painting, and his live-in girlfriend, Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), have spiced up their long relationship by inviting Isamel’s co-worker Alice (Clotilde Hesme) to share their bed. Oui, but is the spicy, unconventional arrangement having the opposite effect on Ismael and Julie’s relationship?
Because the rules are different in France, Julie openly discusses the menage a trois with her mom and the rest of her chain-smoking family. (And, man, do they smoke.) After something unexpected shatters the lovers triangle, the self-centered Ismael is suddenly set adrift in misery, guilt and self-doubt.
