groggo
Any film with Daniel Auteuil and Sabine Azema is, for my money, worth watching. They are two of the world's great actors, capable of reaching across the full range of the acting spectrum, from explosive emotions to farce to whimsical or dark introspection, as they do in Peindre ou faire l'amour.Auteuil, he of that magnificent Gallic face, plays a retired meteorologist who, from force of habit perhaps, slips into regular, inane (and humorous) asides about the weather. As his beautiful wife, Azema is a talented landscape painter. They're both in their late 50s, and they decide to retire to the country and live out their golden years in idyllic examinations of wondrous nature and the philosophy of being.Anyone living in retirement (this writer for example) knows this is a noble idea, but it rarely, if ever, works. Boredom and ennui creep in very quickly after one retires, despite the bullblip and smarmy insurance company agitprop to the contrary. Retirement means disorientation, a separation from routine and self, and the characters in Peindre, etc. demonstrate this very well.Enter Sergei Lopez, an edgy and terrific actor who so convincingly played the violent and obsessively jealous husband in the Spanish film Sole Mia. In Peindre, etc., he is a blind man who captivates Azema through his disturbing mystique and his super-sensitivity to smell and sound. Lopez's wife is the lovely Amira Casar, and they're called Adam and Eva, not exactly a subtle choice of names by writers-directors (and brothers) Armand and Jean-Marie Larrieu. Lopez and Casar, in the non-Biblical sense, metaphorically create a new world for Auteuil and Azema. Lopez's character is deceptive; he appears kind, caring, gentle, but beneath it there's mischief, if not malice, brewing: he 'sees' much more than the merely sighted, and he quietly manipulates both Auteuil and Azema, so much so that they begin to alter their lives because of him. Both couples just casually fall into an adulterous relationship that is done with such minimalist matter-of-factness by the Larrieus that you really wonder if it's happening at all. The mini-'swinging' is done with an unusual lack of fuss -- you won't see the usual (and, these days, hopelessly overdone) surfeit of moaning, writhing and sweating bodies. The adulterous act, a first for Auteuil and Azema, is initially traumatic, but then becomes a galvanizing force in their new, 'retired' lives. Questions arise: what does love really mean when partners 'switch' for sexual purposes, while still professing profound love for each other? Are they, in fact, REALLY in love? In the midst of their carnality, who are they really deceiving other than each other? Does sex really have any meaning other than self-satisfaction or self-absorption? I liked this understated film because it skillfully handles difficult subject matter and raises very human questions. The moods of the characters and the film's premises are complemented by magnificent scenery (light, shadow and dark are regularly examined and contrasted). The aesthetic visions of both the artist and the sightless man, who cannot 'see' beauty in the literal sense, but articulates it through other heightened senses, lead you to ask once again the ageless question: what is art? The haunting music of the late Belgian 'cafe' singer Jacques Brel is a tremendous bonus. Both he and Canada's Leonard Cohen are unmatched in expressing powerful visceral and cerebral poetry in songs that probe the eternal mystery of love and why we somehow, through the eons, have never really understood its source or its power.
film_riot
"Peindre ou faire l'amour" is a film light like a feather. There is nothing dark about it. It is a film about spontaneity, a film about getting back enjoyment in life through art and sex, through friendship and sex, and through sex. Almost all characters in the film are blessed with a constant level of sexual desires, which results of their carelessness. Our main characters for example (played by Daniel Auteuil and Sabine Azéma): The husband has just retired and has a lot of time and his wife's nature seems to be very sexual in general. Or their new friends (played by Sergi Lopez and Amira Casar): It looks like it has always been their plan to get to bed with Auteuil's and Azéma's character. Or at least to gather different sexual experiences. Moreover, nearly all characters, who appear in this film come twosome, as a couple (which says a lot about the world it plays in). All in all a light and very good film, funny at times, touching at times, and for the characters always interesting.
johno-21
I saw this film at the 2006 Palm Springs International Film Festival and enjoyed this movie very much. This is not a big film but it has a lot going for it. It's smart, charming, has a lot of style and is quite humorous. Great outdoor scenes. Since it is a story who's principal character is an artist I expected it to go overboard with stylized cinematography and try to create every scene as a painting but it didn't do that. It gave you the flavor of her love of painting without trying to recreate it on screen. This is a refreshing movie in that it's all about middle age people and so is the audience they seek. The baby boomer audience who are in 2006 between the ages of 42 and 60 should expect to see more movies geared to their age group coming their way. The cast is great in this movie and the four central characters and two supporting characters are a fun study. Great music in this too. I would give it a 7.0 out of a possible 10 and recommend it.
writers_reign
This is a movie that just begs for someone to observe how FRENCH it is, the implication being that other countries somehow can't get their celluloid souffles to rise quite like the Gauls. Be that as it may this IS, I suppose, typically French, whatever that means. Sabine Azema and Daniel Auteuil are a well-heeled couple of the 'early retirement' school. Azema likes to dabble in landscapes and whilst she is thus occupied a blind man (Sergi Lopez) tells her and shows - if that is the right word - her a house that is for sale. In nothing flat she and Auteuil are installed and beginning a new life in which Lopez and his wife (Amira Casar) quickly become their new best friends and in the fullness of time - probably about two or three months - it's wife-swapping time. Azema and Auteuil take to this like ducks to water so much so that they're soon advertising for like-minded couples. If it sounds sordid on the page it doesn't come across like that on the screen, possibly because it's French. All the principals are on top of their game and Casar proves that there IS life after Catherine Breillat. Well worth a look.
