Les gens honnêtes vivent en France (2005)

Directed by: Bob Decout | 95 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Victoria Abril, Bruno Putzulu, Hélène de Fougerolles, Artus de Penguern, Philippe Volter, Olivier Parenty, Valérie Bonneton, Patricia Ercole, Kepa Amuchastegui

The confusion sets in in the first five to ten minutes of this French film from 2005. Director Bob Decout lets at least four different genre elements pass by and clearly has not been able to choose a course. It is therefore his first film in twenty years. We see a very short scene in old-fashioned black and white – the only one in the entire film, by the way – with one of the main characters Aurore talking to an older man. This is followed by mysterious music with an Eastern touch, pointing to an exciting sequence that does not immediately follow. Then the film shows a very explicit sex scene in which Aurore is treated not too honorably by her bed partner (and vice versa for that matter), and then a comic scene is presented to the viewer. This doesn’t bode well.

First we get to know Aurore, a smart PR lady who lives a luxurious life full of sexual adventures, but in the meantime is mostly lonely and worries about her lazy teenage son. She hires Rodolphe to tutor him and soon finds that her new employee will benefit her more than just a tutor. Rodolphe in turn is also lonely, secretly in love with his flamboyant colleague Agnès, who apparently does not like him. In order to complete the circle, Agnès also feels alone and is looking for true love, but is always tricked by the wrong and dangerous men. To reinforce the colorfulness of Agnès’ character, each scene in which she appears is stylistically rather bombastic. On the street everyone is wearing black and gray when Agnès walks by in her rose-red outfits. Despite these nice style details, the film looks a bit old-fashioned for a production from 2005. The clothing and setting seem more from the nineties.

Aurore has an affair with local councilor Francois and commits Rodolphe to conquer him permanently. When she impulsively tells Francois that she is planning to adopt a Colombian baby, she has to act and act. To do this job, she sends Rodolphe to Bogotá, who has no problem with his adoration of a fictional Colombian writer and the chance to meet him. From that moment on, the muddled events follow each other in rapid succession and in an almost slapstick manner. The beautifully cinematic images of Bogotá’s colonial center and nearby towns such as Villa de Leyva are the greatest merits in this part of the film. Everything seems to be going wrong until Rodolphe suddenly bumps into Agnès at the orphanage where he is going to pick up the baby, as if fate has decreed it so. The final phase is sympathetic in itself but can’t really touch at that moment in the film. ‘Les gens honnêtes vivent en France’ has entertaining moments in it, but that is not enough to really captivate.