Pièce montée

The precedent user was right when he hinted at "A Wedding" .The American movie is certainly better ,but with a more comfortable budget,although the French director can boast a cast which would make a lot of his colleagues drool .

Altman's movie and "Pièce Montée" have in common a legendary old actress:Lilian Gish (whose career almost spanned the whole twentieth century) and Danielle Darrieux (born 1917,her career commenced in 1931!any advance?) "Pièce Montée "(tiered cake)is a funny comedy,with some nostalgia and an attack on the bourgeoisie Chabrol would not disown .Its depiction of a wedding in France is marvelously precise ,with all these smug people ,wearing their Sunday's best ,and taking photographs of each other.

Although the movie is rather short ,the screenwriters succeeds in creating a dozen of characters .Jérémie Rénier is wonderful as the groom,apparently happy and self-assured but actually Under his mom's (Dominique Lavanant) thumb and still wondering whether he's made the right choice.Another stand out is Aurore Clément ,a bourgeois sure of herself ,of her faith and of her religion ,who wants the statue of Sainte -Agathe to be removed from the Church during the wedding because she finds it gory ("This is St Agathe Church "says the embittered priest".

This is the depiction of a world crumbling down ,and what happened to the tiered cake (par excellence Le Gateau De Marriage) is a sinister omen .People whose marriage is on the rocks,a groom who does not see his bride anymore as soon as the party begins,a Down's syndrome child one tries to carefully hide on the photographs,a priest ,sick and tired of those ceremonial Christians and tell them so (the scene is a bit heavy-handed and it takes all Jean-Pierre Marielle's talent to make it a winner).

Although Marielle is fifteen years younger than Danielle Darrieux ,their love is thoroughly credible and the only moment when some sunlight does break through-in the middle of the night- Because a long long time ago,these two broke a taboo ,it might allow the others to carry on:the daughter will accept her "new" father ,one of the girls will come out of the closet and the newly-wed might live happily ever after.

Denys Granier-Deferre is Pierre Granier Deferre's son .His father was in the grand tradition of the "Cineme De Qualité " and his works have worn very well.The son displays more bite ,and his movie would deserve more than its unfair rating.