The Art of Love (2011 film)

The Art of Love (French: L'art d'aimer) is a 2011 French comedy film directed and written by Emmanuel Mouret. The film stars Mouret himself, Pascale Arbillot, Ariane Ascaride, Frédérique Bel, François Cluzet, Julie Depardieu, Judith Godrèche, Stanislas Merhar, Elodie Navarre, Laurent Stocker and Gaspard Ulliel, and is narrated by Philippe Torreton.

The Art of Love
Film poster
Directed byEmmanuel Mouret
Produced byGeorges Bermann
Frédéric Niedermayer
Written byEmmanuel Mouret
StarringEmmanuel Mouret
Pascale Arbillot
François Cluzet
Narrated byPhilippe Torreton
CinematographyLaurent Desmet
Edited byMartial Salomon
Production
company
Moby Dick Films
Distributed byPyramide Distribution
Release date
Running time
85 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

The Art of Love premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival on 7 August 2011. Although it garnered rather mixed reviews by film critics, it won the Best Screenplay Award at the Montréal World Film Festival, and the Foreign Press Award at Filmfest Hamburg.

Plot summary

The Art of Love is composed of several chapters, which follows several Parisian couples. Isabelle (Julie Depardieu) has not had sex in a year. She declines an offer from her friend Zoé (Pascale Arbillot) to "borrow" her husband and instead winds up impersonating Amélie (Judith Godrèche), another friend who cannot bring herself to sleep with her buddy, Boris (Laurent Stocker). The singleton Achille (François Cluzet) thinks his prayers have been answered when his svelte new neighbour (Frédérique Bel) knocks on his door wearing a negligee and suggests they have an affair. In another chapter, a middle-aged couple’s marriage is threatened when wife Emmanuelle (Ariane Ascaride) finds herself lusting after every attractive man she lays eyes upon and a pair of young lovers (Elodie Navarre and Gaspard Ulliel) discover the pangs of jealousy.

Cast

Release

The Art of Love premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival on 7 August 2011.[1] It was then shown at the Namur Francophone Film Festival on 3 October 2011. Two days later, on 5 October, the film had its premiere in Germany at the Hamburg Film Festival.[2] In the United Kingdom, The Art of Love premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on 25 October 2011.[3] The film was released theatrically in France on 27 November. As of March 2012, it was also distributed in Switzerland, Belgium, Canada and Hungary. The film will be theatrically released in Germany on 17 May 2012.[4]

Reception

Critical response

The Art of Love received mixed to positive reviews. The Première magazine gave it two out of four stars, describing the cast performances as "convincing", but also calling the film "predictable".[5] Isabelle Zirbi of the Les Cahiers du cinéma praised Emmanuel Mouret's directing and writing ideas, awarding the film with three out of four stars.[6] Le Nouvel Observateur reviewed the film more positively, naming it a "delicious patchwork of plots and characters", and gave it four out of five stars.[7] Le Figaro awarded The Art of Love with three stars out of four, as well as Les Inrockuptibles, StudioCiné Live and Télérama. The reviews of Le Parisien, Elle and A voir à lire were more rigid, although they praised the film's comedic situations.[8]

Foreign critiques similarly reviewed the film. Neil Young of The Hollywood Reporter positively reviewed the film, comparing it to the works of Woody Allen, but adding that "some promising ideas in this high-toned romantic comedy get smothered by an over-complicated presentation".[9] Jey Weissberg of the Variety wrote "Mouret's rep and stellar cast mean local biz should be strong [...], but it will take more than art for 'Love' to transcend borders" and gave the film a mixed review.[10] The Time Out gave it three out of five stars, naming it the "frothy fun".[11] Dan Fainaru of the Screen Daily reviewed The Art of Love positively.[12]

Accolades

On 28 August 2011, Emmanuel Mouret won the Best Screenplay Award at the Montréal World Film Festival.[13][14] The film was also honoured with the Foreign Press Award at the Hamburg Film Festival.[15]

References
  1. "French films out in force at Locarno". Unifrance. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  2. "The Art of Love". Filmfest Hamburg (in German). Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  3. Romney, Jonathan. "The Art of Love". BFI London Film Festival. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  4. "Release dates for L'art d'aimer (2011)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  5. Narbonne, Christophe. "L'Art d'aimer – Critique de Premiere". Première (in French). Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  6. Zirbi, Isabelle. "L'Ars d'amour – Les autres avis de la presse (Les Cahiers du cinéma)". Première (in French). Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  7. Achour, B. "L'Ars d'amour – Les autres avis de la presse (Nouvel Obs)". Première (in French). Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  8. "L'Ars d'amour – Les autres avis de la presse". Première (in French). Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  9. Young, Neil (8 August 2011). "The Art of Love: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  10. Weissberg, Jey (18 August 2011). "Variety Reviews – The Art of Love". Variety. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  11. Cohen, Sarah. "The Art of Love Review". Time Out. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  12. Fainaru, Dan (7 August 2011). "The Art of Love". Screen Daily. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  13. "Awards of the World Film Festival – Montréal 2011". Montréal World Film Festival. 28 August 2011. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  14. Dunlevy, T'Cha (29 August 2011). "Montreal World Film Festival 2011: Hasta la Vista! leads awards". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  15. "Nine Awards at Filmfest Hamburg". Filmfest Hamburg. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
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