Une nouvelle amie (2014) Reviews

• I loved it.

  nikkd2015-09-15

  After going over the film list for TIFF 2014 this movie seemed to stand out to me. Based on what I was reading it was actually different from what I expected. I suppose my imagination is just not very creative lol. I did see this movie with a female friend and she really enjoyed it as well. What I do remember if that within a few minutes of starting the whole theatre was in tears. And then a few minutes later we were all laughing so hard we were crying. That is all I will so so as not to spoil it. We did enjoy the acting, the lighting, the costumes etc. The ending was also very suspenseful and the way tings finished were very interesting. I guess you have to see it for yourself and make your own judgement. I strongly urge you to watch it and come back with your comments, recommendations, suggestions.

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• Soon to be an essential contribution to film gender theory, it's also exquisite entertainment.

  Sergeant_Tibbs2014-10-17

  Francois Ozon has been one of the hottest French directors of the past couple of years. After the acclaimed Swimming Pool, In The House and Young & Beautiful, The New Girlfriend is the first one of his I've been able to see and he lives up to the hype. Although it's a quaint story, it has moments of bold ambition that truly pay off, with scenes that are quite reminiscent of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's tendency to dig into the past cinematically. It opens with an enthralling backstory montage to rival Up's Married Life, though with a short Katy Perry flavored interlude. It teeters on trite, but with a whole heap of charm, rich photography, an irresistible score and strong conviction from the actors, it's utterly bewitching and wins you over from then on for the experience. When Claire's (Anais Demoustier) best friend Laura (Isild Le Besco) dies at an unfortunate young age, she finds herself having to live up to her promise of looking over her widower, David (Romain Duris), and their six month old baby. However, after procrastinating out of pain for her loss and finally pushing herself to keep David company, she uncovers a shocking secret. It's the first of the film's turns and its primary topic of discussion. It's revealed that David is a frequent transvestite, a double life unlocked by his wife's death, and he dresses in her clothing to comfort his baby. He adopts the role of father and mother simultaneously, but also takes the place of Laura in Claire's life. At first repulsed, Claire eventually helps him on his journey of self-discovery as he takes his first steps outside in a dress. It's a fascinating study of gender identification and queer stigma, examining the insecurities about gender roles, projection and sexuality. Although David dresses and eventually identifies as a woman (aka 'Virginia'), he is not homosexual at all besides moments of fleeting mild temptation, and the film approaches that concept as something that people struggle to disassociate with. It's a film that feels textbook ready to contribute to queer theory with the way it explores all the possible angles. Sometimes it is a crux of the film that it appears to try too hard to cover all this ground regarding analysing sexuality rather than adding to the story, and those scenes don't land as organically as the arc of the main plot. Perhaps it's the liberalness of French cinema that leads the characters down that sexually experimental and fantastical path, but it feels out of tune. I've only seen Romain Duris in last year's Mood Indigo and 2005's The Beat That The Heart Skipped and he's stunned me each time. He's topped himself here. He's utterly immersed in his dual roles as David and Virginia with idiosyncratic nuances that feel flawlessly measured and deeply human. The film is told through the eyes of Anais Demoustier's Claire, who although is relatively a passive protagonist compared to David's arc, the way she subtly addresses her dilemmas, curiosities and last minute choices is a joy to watch. It's a very generous performance, and one that fortunately reflects back on her and it's easy to invest in both of them. With tragedy and comedy in equal measure, the film is exquisite entertainment outside of its academia ripe representations. The performances deliver laughs and emotion in an authentic way within the film's lively style. It's slickly made, with lush cinematography and swift editing making its dynamics feel incredibly kinetic which compliment the economic, poignant and liberating screenplay. Despite reservations with where the plot meanders and dips outside of its more interesting boundaries, The New Girlfriend is a confident, thought-provoking and extravagant piece of art. I will certainly be on the lookout for more Ozon in the future and dig into his back catalogue. 8/10

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• Stay Gold, Ponyboy !

  Nodriesrespect2014-11-14

  Erstwhile Wunderkind François Ozon finally regains his grand form left floundering in the wake of his 2007 fiasco and first (and thus far only) English language film ANGEL. His immediate follow-up, RICKY, proved wildly uneven with a head-scratching second half undoing its initial poignancy. POTICHE did extremely well at the box-office but couldn't help but feel like 8 WOMEN Lite with both THE REFUGE and IN THE HOUSE teetering on the brink of greatness but hampered by bland or unsatisfactory endings respectively. Reason to rejoice about THE NEW GIRLFRIEND then, all the more surprising because it is one of those rare instances that finds Ozon adapting a literary source (in this case, a Ruth Rendell potboiler) to accommodate his personal proclivities rather than working from an original, preferably self-penned screenplay, a skill he has been somewhat faltering at of late. It was love at first sight for Claire and Laura, played as adults by Anaïs Demoustier and Isild Le Besco respectively, when they met at school aged 7 and were to become inseparable over the following years. Romance and marriage barely intervened so it was almost a given that Claire would vow to take care of Laura's husband David (Romain Duris) and their newborn baby Lucie when her BFF passed away mere months after childbirth. Now it's one thing to make such a promise but quite a different matter to follow through and Claire's so overcome with grief herself that she can't bear to be around her dead friend's husband, until she accidentally finds out his great secret... Spoiler alert !!! Venturing into the late Laura's house when the doorbell goes unanswered, Claire stumbles across David in full female drag casually giving his daughter her afternoon bottle. Although he claims this is his admittedly rather unique way to cover up a mother's absence to his infant offspring, David can barely disguise his excitement when showing Claire his wardrobe, consisting mostly of Laura's altered clothes and wigs bought over the internet. Claire's initial shock turns to bemusement as she christens David's alter ego "Virginia" and agrees to take "her" shopping and to the movies, the Vivien Leigh version of WATERLOO BRIDGE at a repertory theater where Virginia's felt up by an anonymous patron, "her" excitement stemming not so much from sexual pleasure as from the stranger's casual acceptance of "her" as a woman. Keeping David's secret life - and by extension her own as an all too willing accomplice - carefully hidden from her doting but clueless husband Gilles (the extraordinarily handsome Raphaël Personnaz, best known for playing MARIUS in Daniel Auteuil's recent Marcel Pagnol adaptations), Claire experiences a growing need to spend time with "Virginia" who's obviously filling the void left by Laura so they decide to spend an entire weekend together at the rural getaway of David's in-laws with lies told to all concerned. A trip to a pan-sexual nightclub confronts them with their secret selves as they watch sensational drag diva Eve Carlton mime to Nicole Croisille's haunting Une Femme Avec Toi, a song successfully treading the fine line between heartfelt and melodramatic similar to Ozon's finest work. The song's reappearance at the story's climax will provide an emotional sucker punch though it could so easily have slipped into mawkishness had the director (or his cast) hit the wrong notes. I must admit to breathing a huge sigh of relief in witnessing the assurance with which Ozon handles this tricky material, his in your face impudence first endearing him to cinema critics worldwide having matured into forgiveness and understanding of what drives his troubled characters. The gorgeous glowing hues of the autumnal photography by Pascal Marti (who shot Philippe Labro's underrated RIVE DROITE, RIVE GAUCHE a full three decades ago) celebrate the "lifelong" friendship between Claire and Laura in the engaging opening montage, gaining a distinctly ironic edge when they return for an ambiguously "happy" ending that will have you pondering its morbidly unhealthy implications for days after-wards. Still, even the most compelling tale would fall flat on its face without the right actors to tell it. Cast against type from his familiar ne'er do well Lotharios, Duris shines as the gender-conflicted David, his cross-dressing going from clumsy (sporting an overlooked five o'clock shadow when first going out) to completely convincing as "Virginia" gains gradual assurance, and the upper hand perhaps ? Up against such a showy part, it's not easy for youthful Anaïs Demoustier to hold her own, making it all the more impressive when she wrestles the limelight away from her experienced "leading lady". Claire's inner conflict remains very much the focus throughout, her affection for Laura having missed the opportunity of evolving into something more "transgressive" (as evidenced by a pair of highly erotic same sex fantasy sequences) with David/Virginia as a potential substitute. Of course, the ravishing redhead's willingness to undress (already displayed in Malgorzata Szumowska's sweltering ELLES) doesn't hurt and immediately endears her to this old pervert's heart. Always great to see veteran actress Aurore Clément (although she seems to have suffered some dodgy cosmetic surgery) as Laura's grieving mom and toothsome Isild Le Besco (sister of actress/director Maïwenn) practically creates an entire character out of thin air, projecting Laura's luminescence hovering over a narrative she's only spectrally part of.

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• life-affirming

  esperancaed2015-04-17

  What a beautiful film! This movie is definitely one I will recommend if asked. I enjoyed watching the plot unfold and was never bored. The visual experience is comfortable since there are many calm scenes shot in beautiful places and soft light. Considering the subject of this film I want to point out that it might not be a movie that trans* individuals find themselves relating to a lot, but rather one that is educational for people who wish to get an impression of what changes this kind of realization brings about in a person and their relationships. The first statement I made because David, as he undergoes his transition to Virginia, faces just enough problems to give outsiders an idea of what it must be like to find ones whole life changed in such a way while also establishing a background for her that means that her transition is mostly the only thing she has to worry about. She is privileged in many ways and thus never faces the additional problems a lot of trans* individuals do, simply because they have to work and/or have limited funds at their disposal. Virginia is laughed at by a man in public, but other than that does not appear to live in a part of the world where she needs to fear for her safety leaving the house as herself. She is fortunate in that way, too. This is not the norm, and movie-goers should keep that in mind. It was very good to see that there was no fuss made about the little child the main character has. Her ability to be a parent is not brought in relation with her gender identity. Trans* individuals hoping to find themselves in Virginia might be disappointed because this movie focuses less on the worldly everyday troubles that tend to dictate a life and much more on Virginia's relationships and how they evolve together with her identity, so many conversations are specific to her situation. Cis individuals will definitely recognize their own reactions in those of Virginias friend Claire, as one tends to have them in the exact same moments as she does throughout the movie. If by the end of this visually pleasing, beautifully underscored movie one finds oneself ashamed for having sympathized with Claire when she told Virginia that her behaviour was 'ridiculous' and that she needed to 'stop this', then one would be right to feel that way.

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• From a dull beginning, to a great film!

  valentina-sofijanic2015-07-09

  i am surprised to see negative reviews on this film. 1 star? I wonder what could have been so bad in the movie to deserve 1 star... The first 20 minutes of the film are rather dull but as the film develops, the mystery unveils and the clichés disappear. Isild Le Besco (Laura) is fairly bad which is why the movie is so difficult to watch in the beginning, unfortunately. Roman Duris (David) and Anais Demoustier (Claire) are excellent together. I could feel every line, every movement, every thought. I felt deeply overwhelmed when the film ended. The trailer is perfect, as it doesn't reveal too much. Please do not read reviews of the movie with spoilers, you will certainly lose the surprise effect of the plot. 9/10 9 stars because of the beginning, otherwise WELL DONE Francois Ozon!

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