Love, etc...

Benoit, a shy bank employee in his 30s, is "faithful, unattached, well-balanced, decent-looking." Marie is a shy, charming art restorer whom he meets through a personals ad. Pierre, Benoit's lifelong friend, is a feckless womanizer. Obviously: Benoit and Marie fall in love and get married. At the ceremony, Benoit thinks, "things have finally worked out for me." Marie happily muses, "he's a good person, a kind person, and he love me." And Pierre realizes, "I am in love with Marie. What's going to happen now?" This being a French film, I think we have a pretty good idea. A Jules and Jim for the millennium, this adaptation of Julian Barnes' novel Talking It Over boasts winning performances by Charlotte Gainsbourg (nominated for a Cesar, France's Oscar-equivalent) as the conflicted Marie, Charles Berling as Pierre, and Yvan Attal as Benoit, the film's most likable and empathetic character. Believe it or not, the firmly grounded core conflict of this ill-fated romantic triangle does maintain interest, even if the enigmatic denouement leaves the audience at sea. An optional purchase. (K. Lee Benson)