An average movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Diane Lane, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it seems that everybody in the Coppola family has to direct at least one film during their lifetime so why not Francis Ford Coppola’s wife as well? Of course, there was something pretty meta about this charming woman struggling to get the attention of her workaholic husband who was constantly being consumed by some obscure movie projects. However, this movie mostly focused on some seemingly endless road-trip from Cannes to Paris and, well, this movie didn’t have much else to offer, I’m afraid. Eventually, how much you will enjoy it will depend on how much you enjoy French culture, in particular ridiculously expensive fancy French food, like the two characters involved in this movie. The fact that I’m French probably made me skeptical and I’m afraid I never felt the same obsession as Jacques displayed with my own culture. Eventually, it seems that Eleanor Coppola tried to lean into a ‘Before Sunrise’ vibe and I must admit that she almost pulled it off. However, the big difference between Linklater’s marvelous trilogy and Coppola’s directorial debut was the fact that Linklater always put the focus on the two characters and never on their surroundings and, with Coppola’s harmless but after all rather empty movie, it was actually the other way around. The end-result then did feel like more like some pretty postcard than an actual movie. I was also missing some background info. I mean, both characters were acting like they didn’t know each other but Jacques and Anne’s husband had been business partner for quite some time apparently. Furthermore, French or not, Jacques’s behavior was pretty weird and even actually quite predatory. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really amazing, the damned thing was still cute and harmless and I think it might be worth a look, at least, if you really like the genre.