‘Au plus pres du paradis‘ is the 2002 film by Tonie Marshall that is, in my opinion, a classic case of underrating. I will give an example. In the second scene of the film, the main heroine played by Catherine Deneuve sits in a movie theater where ‘An Affair to Remember’, a 1957 love film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, is screened. The viewing is not accidental, as the old film is related to a love story from her past. One young woman is sitting next to her, she seems to be even more excited about what is happening on the screen. At the end of the screening, Deneuve is obviously excited, and the girl is in tears. The actress who plays the other viewer is none other than Emmanuelle Devos, the formidable actress who was already in 2002 a star with more than a decade of successes in her filmography. It is the only scene in which it appears, a film-in-film scene like Truffaut used to make, moving by the resonance between the destinies and feelings of the heroes and what happens on the screen in the movie theater. Devos, wanted to appear in this scene, maybe to be with Deneuve on screen, sure to add quality and appeal to the film.
‘Au plus pres du paradis‘ proposes a late love story. In fact, it may be an imaginary love story, or, conversely, two different stories. The heroine of the film, Fanette, is an expert in contemporary art, divorced, with her daughter already with her own life and with inherent conflicts between generations. After the reunion of 30 years after graduation, she is approached quite insistently by Bernard, the man who had loved her in his youth, whom she had rejected then and whom now she rejects again. In fact, she continues to be in love with her young days flame Philippe, but he is an evasive presence, she is not sure whether he was present at the meeting, he always seems to be around but we never see him clearly. If he is around, he must be wearing a gray suit, that’s all we are sure about. Leaving for a short trip to US to photograph the works in the private collections of a famous painter, she meets Matt, a professional photographer. An awkward relationship begins between the two, marked by cultural differences at all levels – art, manners, the way they approach relationships. In addition, a letter in a blue envelope calls her to be on the roof of the Empire State Building in Manhattan, just like at the end of ‘An Affair to Remember’. Will this movie end in a similar way?
Catherine Deneuve dominates the film. Naturally, the script is written for her. William Hurt‘s reply in the role of the annoying (at first impression) American photographer is up to her. The acting performances of the two place them well in the genre of romantic comedies with Franco-American couples, which were very fashionable at that time. Bernard Le Coq also has an excellent performance as the eternally rejected suitor who hides some secrets. The cinematography is signed by Agnès Godard, an operator who has worked with directors such as Claire Denis and Wim Wenders, an expert in capturing the atmosphere of big cities in the film – in this case Paris and New York. An elegant film, a little mysterious and a little old-fashioned, a classic story in a modern atmosphere, which I liked and which I think many of my friends will like as well.