Film No. 22 (2016) Mon Roi March 28th.

Film No. 22 (2016) March 28th.  9.00 PM LUNA Paradiso, Northbridge. 

 

Trivia: Emmanuelle Bercot shared the best actress award with Mara Rooney (Carol) at Cannes in 2015 for her performance in Mon Roi.

 

Depicting a tempestuous, erratic relationship between two temperaments where heartbreak is inevitable is nearly a film genre in itself. As with the Romantic Comedy or Revenge Thriller the Drama come Love/Tragedy has been depicted before, often best by the French or the Italians. Mon Rio (My King) is French and it is a worthy contribution to the genre.


Emmanuelle Bercot (Toni) and Vincent Cassel (Georgio) shine in this simple drama about a couple of extroverts who have too much in common for their relationship to be everlasting. We learn all about this roller coaster ride of a marriage via Toni's reflective thoughts as she recovers from knee surgery after a skiing accident which we witness, partially, in the opening scene. The thrill of this flashback technique holds us suspended, most particularly concerning Georgio's fate. 


Georgio has to be charismatically convincing and he is, then Toni has to be doubly the same in her quest to hold him on the pedestal that she hopes will last for ever after, like in fairy-tales. Director Maiwenn is a young French filmmaker learning her craft and her clumsy method of paralleling Toni's physical recuperation with her emotional reparation is never convincing, verging on cliche but it's part of the indulgence of Mon Roi.


It's a case of knowing what you're getting with Roi so do we look beyond the cliched narrative or are we happy to be indulged? I fall on the side of the latter mainly because Bercot and Cassel make the scenes that count bristle.  9GUMS.