Director Cédric Klapisch and actor Romain Duris reunite for this film centering on Duris’s character, Pierre, a former dancer. Pierre’s heart is failing and he’s waiting on the transplant list. Meanwhile, life goes on around him, everywhere, especially in a city of the size and scope of Paris. Klapisch captures the city’s density. People cross paths and sometimes something lasting happens, sometimes nothing. This is the simple truth Klapisch examines through the main story of Pierre and his sister Élise (the wonderfully wound Juliette Binoche), who wants to care for him but on her terms, and several interconnected subplots; the best of these are the two brothers, a historian and an architect, dealing with life after their father’s death.
This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2010.
