Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

aFrenchparadox It leaves you a weird feeling afterwards, if, like me, you enjoy and believe in free life-styles. Because she was really free, in advance on her time, never cared about other's opinions... which is something I entirely admire and quite try to do. But she ended up alone, pathetically alone. And this makes you wonder if this life-style you aim to reach is a good choice. Strangely I am convinced it wasn't the aim of the movie, to make you wonder about the emptiness of her life. So maybe it's me again who is projecting (some worries nowadays about where my Independence drives me?). Or maybe, as we say in French, you can't have the butter and the money for the butter, meaning, every life-style choice has negative consequences: chose freedom, you will end up alone; chose love and commitment to others, you will end up feeling coerced. In any case, happiness is not at the end, so enjoy the moment...

writers_reign Thirty two years ago Diane Kurys wrote and directed Diabolo Menthe, a thinly-disguised autobiographical take on the childhood of her sister and herself. She followed with others in the same vein, Coup de foudre, La Baule le Pins etc, all beautifully realised. Now, thirty one years later - Sagan was shot as a two-part TV special and aired in 2008 - she has finally come full circle with a genuine BIOgraphy, namely Francoise Sagan, who was catapulted to fame via a novel she batted out in her school vacation, Bonjour, Tristesse. It wasn't actually a very good novel any more than its successors, A Certain Smile, Aimez-vouz Brahms but none of them were outright trash, all sold in droves and all were filmed. The movie has been considerably pared down from its original 180 minutes so it's difficult to be too harsh at what often seem abrupt modulations - the housekeeper/companion who appears seemingly out of the blue during Sagan's last few years, for example. Sylvie Testud is one of the finest French actresses of her generation and I can't recall a single bad performance (though I have not seen everything) and here she is at the top of her game managing to capture the sense of someone permitting Life to live them rather than vice versa. There is fine support especially from Denis Podalydes and Jeanne Balibar but it will be remembered as a curio rather than an essential part of the canon.

stensson It seems to be a trend in French mainstream movies nowadays, to film the story of celebrities' lives. "Sagan" is just another example.This author lived a quite unhappy life, being used but also letting herself be used by flatterers and others. They all disappeared and betrayed her, like she betrayed many people, including her son.But this story is told in such a common way. The main character is complex, but still made very easy to understand. It's all simplified in a moralizing way. Not that you can object much about moralizing over this destructive life and surely, this is entertaining and absolutely not stupid. But Sagan deserves better.

richard_sleboe Why another biopic? Why biopics at all? Writer-director Diane Kurys doesn't know. Perhaps so you have something to take your mother to. But chances are she'd fall asleep. Francoise Sagan may have had an exciting life, but you certainly wouldn't know from this movie. It feels like the entire cast and crew were high on 875, that mysterious morphine Sagan was a slave to half her life. Because nothing ever happens, you will quickly find your mind wandering to the fringes of the screen. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it's even a cinematic strategy, but I wouldn't bet on it. Take Florence Malraux, the eminent writer's daughter. Played by Margot Abascal, she is so much more vibrant and adorable than everybody else you wonder why the movie isn't about her. Or take the shady guy: When Francoise and Peggy, drunk as hell, check into the Hotel Raphael for a little lesbian loving, they pass a nameless stranger walking the other way. I wonder what his story is. Where is he going, wearing giant shades, in the middle of the night? Perhaps I should have followed him.