The scenario is a wealthy neighborhood of the city of Orléans. The characters: two fortysomething women, Marithé and Carole. Marithé, separated from her husband years ago, has a son of university age and Carole is the wife of Sam, a famous, Michelin starred chef, and works as the head hostess in his restaurant. That have no children. Marithé teaches classes and works on a one-to-one basis in a center supposed to pair laid off workers with the profession that best suits their skills. There are deft touches of humor here, such as the almost unanimous skepticism of Marithé's class and the weird answers that a badly designed software comes up with. Carole seems dissatisfied with her job, resents living under the shadow of Sam's oversize personality and is is looking aimlessly for a way out.
The plot starts with Carole sneaking in Marithé's skills assessment class and having one-to-one sessions with her to which she is not entitled, as she has a job. An uneasy, twisty relationship between the women begins which seems at times to be (or lead to) friendship, but is tainted by insincerity and manipulation (hence the French title, that could be translated to "We failed at becoming friends."
Script is witty, intelligent and never falls into cliché territory. Excellent acting by Karin Viard (Marithé) and Emmanuelle Devos (Carole). Roschdy Zem (Sam) shows his unfailing excellence although his role is more limited. Direction by Anne Le Ny (who also cowrote the script) is fluid and seamless and the tale keeps your attention from beginning to end. Neither woman's character is very endearing to the viewer (which makes the movie somewhat uninvolving) but this is intentional. A quality film.
