Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Console best movie i've ever seen.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Bob Taylor The three films that Chabrol has made with a script by Caroline Eliacheff are some of the most soporific duds you'll ever see. La Cérémonie was pretty incoherent and dull, despite the splatter-fest at the end, Merci pour le chocolat wasted Isabelle Huppert's and Jacques Dutronc's considerable talents,and here is the latest--a mish-mash of incest, wartime collaboration scandals, and political satire (are municipal candidates really this cynical?). Chabrol still can't get away from savagely ripping into a bourgeoisie that gets feebler with every passing year.I watched Nathalie Baye closely; she never broke out of a tired cynicism displayed with pursed mouth--in other words, she phoned in her performance. Benoit Magimel and Mélanie Doutey were fresh and very appealing as the young lovers, and Bernard Le Coq showed me once more that he is one of France's best actors. Suzanne Flon as Tante Line provided all the touching moments in the picture.

lastliberal Everybody has them in their closet. Most of us manage to hide them quite well. Those that run for public office are just asking for trouble these days especially.Just ask John Kerry or Sarah Palin. Ask about swift boats or trooper-gate. Those things come out in the wash. Even the local politicians have things like unpaid taxes and questionable associations that are brought to light.But, murder? is that unusual. Not really, as it came up in the Clinton campaign in the form of unproven accusations.Here, in a French film that most American audiences would not watch, we have actual murders being alleged. Also some fooling around being hinted at, and associations with Nazis (that was also used with Bush in reference to George's grandfather).The film is slow, but exciting. You are watch each character closely to see who is good and who is evil. But, it is not that easy, as those who appear very good, have some evil in their past.The acting was superb and the story was very good. The direction was excellent as the story flowed at the right pace and headed in the right direction.Worth your time if you like watching characters interact.

thefan-2 I gather from this movie that the French are a great deal touchier about their family histories than we are here in the US. They're easy to ridicule on this point, and the writers seem to be having great fun doing it.I also gather that French politicians are practically identical to their American counterparts: witness the doddering soon-to-be-ex-mayor, who appears not to have uttered a sincere word in his entire life, beaming and exclaiming "Wonderful people!" on learning that the person whose hand he's shaking has just returned from the US. (The "anti-Americanism" that others have complained about in this movie is mostly on that level. Catch it if you can.)For me, the movie weakens when it tries to be serious about the various murders and incestuous relationships in the family's past. The young half-siblings who fall into bed together save those parts from sinking the movie altogether. Definitely worth a rental or two.

jotix100 Claude Chabrol must have been very uninspired when he decided to bring this boring number to the screen. It doesn't help that he and Caroline Eliacheff must have been speaking a different language. One wonders if they thought they had a movie out of the material they assembled together. This is at best a poor French soap opera with no sense of direction.Better luck next time M. Chabrol.