An average movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since I have a weak spot for Virginie Efira, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though the movie itself didn’t completely work, Efira was once again just so charismatic and really spellbinding to behold. The other thing that I enjoyed about this movie was that it gave a pretty good idea of what it is to be a step-parent (I have been myself a step-parent for about 20 years so I do have some experience). Indeed, in my opinion, every child under your care is always a gift and being a parent is always a privilege, no matter if your children are biological, adopted or step-kids and it was something perfectly displayed in this movie which was deeply recognizable and relatable. To be honest, not everything did work though. Indeed, even though the movie should have focused on Rachel, Ali, Leïla and maybe also Alice, they kept deviating towards other things which were rather half-baked and, above all, not really interesting. For example, what was this all about her fixation with her smartphone when the movie started? It was never explained and it never came back again afterwards so you might wonder what was the point after all. Instead, I wish they spent some time explaining why Ali and Alice got separated in the first place, this information would have been crucial for the future of Ali’s new relationship with Rachel. It would have also made it easier for me to swallow how, completely out-of-the-blue, Ali actually dumped Rachel to go back to Alice which was just so lame. Eventually, it is pretty obvious that they made this choice to add some dramatic curve but, to be honest, it actually did ruin slightly the whole thing for me. Indeed, it was such a sweet couple and, as far as I was concerned, the argument that Ali did it for his daughter didn’t hold up since going back to his ex-wife (without mentioning the fact that reigniting a failed relationship sounds like a perfect recipe for chaos and doom) would be so confusing for the poor little girl, especially after they all worked really hard to reach some kind of harmony. It also did make Ali look like a major a**hole which was rather unfair to Roschdy Zem who had to work with a rather poorly developed character after all. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and it is worth a look, especially if you want to see Virginie Efira shining again