Avenue Montaigne (2006)

Simply Perfect

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Lay back and let it flow over you. A cool French film: light, 'frothy', beautifully filmed in Paris' theatre district. A pleasure from start to finish. Clichéd? Yes - but who cares. Enjoy it.Well, the system would not accept my short comment - I have to do minimum of 10 lines(!). I do not want to put in any spoilers but here goes - looks like I have no choice. Jessica is a sweet young thing from the provinces, in Paris and looking for a job - and a room to rent. Jobs are scarce but she talks her way into a waitressing job (oops, politically incorrect) - lets say she is a table attendant - at the Cafe des Theatres. While there she comes into contact with a range of interesting people, including Hollywood director (played by the late great, Sydney Pollack - a pleasure to see now that he has left us, a great concert pianist (who wants to give it all up), a soap star who earns heaps but would prefer 'serious' acting, a millionaire dying of cancer who is selling off his his fabulous art collection, a theatres concierge about to retire, and the millionaire's son (and romantic lead, played by director's son and film co-writer, Christopher Thomson). Leaving out the details (thank goodness!) it comes to a predictable and happy ending. Well written, great photography, well acted, a relaxed pleasure to watch.

What is marketed in the U.S. as "Avenue Montaigne", is a gentle, and entirely unoriginal, story of several people in the same film only because they go to the same restaurant and become acquainted with the same waitress. Is this as original or interesting as the normal Friends episode? No, but the characters are friendly, dealing with difficulties in their lives, and all have rather happy endings - so one is meant not to begrudge the film. But in truth it's not very good.Two characters stand out: the grandmother played by Suzanne Flon (whose name you will probably recognize) who died just after making the film, and the woman playing an actress who must display a great variety of moods, styles as we see her as a character in a staged Feydeau farce (and in rehearsals for that farce), as "herself" in the midst of "real life" career desperation, and again playing a different character in her popular television soap opera. Her range is impressive.The waitress tying the characters together is pleasant, has a pleasing figure - but in this role is rather forgettable. (Oh, there's also rather a surprise to see *** SPOILERS **** her character leap into bed with someone she's just met - the American audience is likely to be amazed since she's presented as this sweet character from the provinces - yet as she kisses this man, a man she just met, she simply begins removing her clothes for sex! Your mouth will drop open!).**** Spoilers END **** The film won't irritate - but it's unlikely to entertain either. See something else.

I was in Paris for a week in 1994. It was a golden opportunity to travel - only $300. round trip for air fare!! - and I loved every single second of it. There is something about that city that I find completely inviting. I would move there in a heartbeat if everyone there would learn English so I don't have to learn French - I am kidding of course..but not really.With that in mind, I went to see this movie, expecting it to be everything that made me love being there, and it does not disappoint.Plot mainly centers around Jessica, who is at a crossroads in her life. She has no place to live and no job. She quickly gets a job in a café that traditionally hires only men. Other characters are gradually introduced .. all of them are at a crossroads of one kind or another.. the concert pianist who is sick of it, the actress who is employed on a soap opera and hates it, the art collector who is selling it all off, and others as well. She finds her way into their lives, in either a large or a small way, and soon finds herself in love with the son of the former art collector.I enjoyed the actress the most. She's kind of funny looking and has the funniest dialogue. She's in a play that she doesn't really want to be in, in addition to the soap, and is just having a hard time of all of it. She meets a director (Sydney Pollack) who she wants to work with but does not think she has the reputation necessary to get hired by him. Eventually they meet and then he is desperate to hire her.There is something so easy, so anything-is-possible quality about this movie and its characters that I find impossible to resist. Its not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination but I just cry "UNCLE", give in to its charms, and enjoy the hell out of it.

"The question is, what's this all about, and why must we concern ourselves with the 'predicaments' of people who from the looks of it are so singularly fortunate in life?" (Chris Knipp).Chris Knipp, no offence, hasn't understood the movie's main idea at all. This, in my experience, is what the movie is all about – the separation between "high class" classical music and life. Classical music, as all music, stems from life itself, is inspired and shaped by it. One can see how, exemplified by the pianist, this form of human expression is put in the strait-jacket of so-called "high culture". Said pianist is fortunate indeed to have his talent, but he's hardly able to breathe, to enjoy and live his talents because he's made to put up a show, to dance to the tune of what he himself calls "the system".