A Couch in New York (1996)

Memorable, crazy movie

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I often wonder if directors sometimes tire of the boxes they find themselves put in. Chantal Akerman, who at the tender age of 25 delivered up the masterpiece Jeanne Dielman which not only changed the face of cinema but forever assured her place among other cinematic auteurs, once referred to herself as being funny like Charlie Chaplin. I guess she tired of simply saying it and decided to actually try it out. Unfortunately the result is not that great. The premise of the film is actually quite promising and suits the genre perfectly. A cold clinical psychoanalyst is overwhelmed by the neediness of his patients and decides to house swap. The person who answers his ad is a young dancer. She is all youth, exuberance and mess. He is cold, clean, calculated. While he can't get comfortable in her apartment she gets all too comfortable in his; when a patient mistakenly assumes she is the analyst's replacement she ends up rolling with it. The movie isn't the greatest, there is some awkward editing that seems to be the result of scenes missing. There's also the fact that for a romantic comedy the comedy of the film never really soars. Binoche and Hurt do well enough with their characters, but they don't have the sort of magic chemistry that could have made this film really work. Also, perhaps the strangest bit of all, for being the work of such an acclaimed director it seems curiously stripped of nearly all the traits that made Akerman, Akerman. It feels like the kind of forgettable movie you would find flipping through the channels late at night. If it wasn't for the fact that this was an Akerman film and that the stars are very notable as well this would be a completely forgotten film, one of dozens of rom coms that got pumped out by studios in the 90s. Pleasant enough to watch but very forgettable.

"Juliette Binoche cannot act", according to 'anonnymous' below. That isa ridiculous assertion. As is to link this film with Kieslowski's'Blue'. The problem with this movie is that neither Binoche nor Hurt aregiven the material in the form of a good screenplay nor the direction tomake the film work. It seems to me that Akerman, who is an excellentdirector, see La Captive, does not have a good enough command of Englishto write a screenplay in the language.The film, which starts out nicely quickly gets bogged down in thepsychoanalyitical. Endless "yes" and "mmmmm"s loose their amusementvalue quickly. The romance angle is badly developed, just why hasBeatrice fallen for John Wire aka Henry? It doesnt work.But Juliette Binoche can act. In fact in Europe she is regarded withIsabelle Huppert to be the finest actress working today. But she canonly produce the goods when she is given the material and the carefuldirection necessary. Go rent "Rendez-Vous", "The Unbearable Lightness ofBeing", "Les Amants du Pont-Neuf", "Three Colours Blue", "Alice &Martin", "The Widow of Saint-Pierre" and especially "Code Innconnu" andtry arguing otherwise.

The premise is a little unrealistic, that a uber-psychiatrist would temporarily abandon his Manhattan practice to switch apartments for a month in Paris-a switch with an unknown woman made through the newspaper. Incroyable!!!But when you have a chance to make a film with two Academy Award winners, Juliette Binoche and William Hurt, set both in New York and Paris, who would pass the chance? Chantal Ackerman could not, the opportunity to make her first English speaking film a bonus.The film is a reminder of how difficult it is to cross the pond movie-wise. Nuance and sub-text is awkward or incomprehensible here-the threads on which the movie is woven are frassled.This artsy little film survives entirely on Binoche's vitality, her French innocence and enthusiasm dominates every negative New York influence her character encounters.It fails most everywhere else, sadly.

The basic tension of opposites attract is carried out in an exquisitely delicate manner. A New York psychiatrist exchanges apartments with a woman in Paris. He is orderly tidy controlled. She is - well opposite. He moves into her disheveled apartment complete with bad plumbing, a roof in disrepair and the importunities of her crazed lover. She moves into his and is beset by his patients demanding to be treated. She obliges and with the help of her friend (who has had analysis) learns to say "uh huh" and repeat the last word of the patient's sentences. They get better. His dog is happier. A nice point is he is shown as competent as her lover starts to feel better when talking to him. This is the last straw that drives him back to New York.He can't go back to his apartment, but stops by, sees his patients coming out looking better. Fascinated, he makes an appointment. The relationship unfolds.The cool thing about this movie is it is not forced like so many modern comedies.You realize how strident such recent comedies such as "One Fine Day" and "Fools Rush In" are in comparison.So wonderfully delicate.