By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jeremy Leven
Starring: Louise Monot | Nora Tschirner | Paddy Considine | Stephane Debac | Vincenzo Amato
Country: germany, united_states
Year: 2014
Running time: 101
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1686042/combined
Kyle says: “I would love to recommend GIRL ON A BICYCLE to fans of quirky European-flavored romantic comedies, but my heart would not be in it. This kind of cute is killing to my soul.
“Paolo (Vincenzo Amato) is a handsome Italian bus driver who conducts tours of Paris; he proposes on bended knee with a boxed diamond ring to his beautiful girlfriend, German airline stewardess Greta (Nora Tschirner), who has an app on her cellphone to remind her to the minute how long they have been together. Shortly afterward, he encounters careless commercial actress Cécile on a bicycle (Louise Monot), whom he crashes into after trying to obtain her telephone number. Pretending to be her husband at the hospital, Paolo finds himself posing as the absent father of Cécile’s two adorable children, who have been told their father is away slaying dragons. Much merriment is made of Paolo having to help Cécile to the bathroom and into and out of her clothes, all perfectly innocent of course, as he looks after the children and shuttles back and forth to an increasingly bewildered Greta, who is being chased by horny airline pilot François (Stéphane Debac). Paolo seeks mostly useless advice from his hapless friend Derek (Paddy Considine), who has three failed marriages.
“Greta accuses Paolo of having another woman, requiring reassurance: she has heard that Italian men are like that, to which he responds so are various French men, American Presidents, and professional golfers, that he himself is too tired for such inclinations. Later that evening, they are interrupted during passionate sex by a telephone call from Cécile, and Paolo lies to Greta that it is Derek, as a result of which she decides to follow him. Complications ensue with the doors and windows of a Feydeau farce replaced by the tech gadgets and behavioral eccentricities of contemporary life. The actors are engaging and work hard, but I tired of them and their whimsy well before the entirely predictable conclusion. ‘If love doesn’t have the power to forgive, what kind of love is it?’ asks Paolo of Greta from an airplane bathroom. The entire passenger roster commences singing the Andrea Bocelli hit ‘Con te partirò’ in response, suggesting another solution to the mystery of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. 3 cats.”
“Watched Friday, June 6, 2014, Netflix, New York.”