
Le Coeur Des Hommes 2
Le Coeur Des Hommes 2
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Produced by Pierre Javaux, Marc Esposito. Directed, written by Marc Esposito;
With: Gerard Darmon, Bernard Campan, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Marc Lavoine, Zoe Felix, Valerie Stroh, Fabienne Babe, Valerie Kaprisky, Florence Thomassin, Catherine Wilkening, Ludmila Mikael.
A conventional but enjoyable continuation of its hit predecessor, “THE HEART OF MEN 2″ drops in on the lives of its quartet of middle-aged Parisian guys four years later. Examining the ebb and flow of love and sex from the male point of view. allows writer Marc Esposito to reiterate that sometimes hormones do the talking, and sometimes the heart is most audible
Jeff (Gerard Darmon), now 57, has moved to an idyllic country house to live with his way younger girlfriend. Elsa (Zoe Felix) and their son. At pic’s outset, he announces to his three best friends — gym teacher Antoine (Bernard Campan), chef Manu (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) and high flying publisher Alex (Marc Lavoine) — that he plans to come out of retirement and return to Paris with his second family.
That gets the joshing buddies back to the same location. Camera then follows their interwoven lives, cluing viewers in to what the men do and don’t choose to share with each other. Sometimes funny, often touching narrative is at its best when examining the heartbreak of constraints.
Manu, who is married to adoring Juliette (Florence Thomassin), is having a wonderful affair with also-married Karine (Valerie Stroh). Unbeknownst to their teen son, Antoine is still having sex with his ex-wife (Fabienne Babe) — until, that is, he spots Jeanne (Valerie Kaprisky), who would seem too classy for a sort of jock.
Alex’s wife of 20 years, Nanou (Catherine Wilkening), throws him out of their luxury apartment when she realizes that — from a private detective’s conservative estimate — he’s probably cheated on her at least 400 times. Even Alex’s three pals think his Peter Pan complex has landed him where he deserves to be, but he loves his wife and doesn’t see why compulsive womanizing necessarily makes him a callow jerk (“I stopped smoking, so I’m sure I could stop sleeping around”).
Parallel storylines are assembled with workmanlike clarity. Lensing adequately shows off a Paris in which people actually go to work, in addition to eating and leading complicated private lives. Refreshingly, the actors are permitted to look their respective ages, warts and all.
The movie is heavy on English-lyric source music.
LE COEUR DES HOMMES 2
Credits:
Writer/director: Marc Esposito
Producer: Pierre Javaux
Antoine: Bernard Campan
Jeff: Gerard Darmon
Manu: Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Alex: Marc Lavoine
Lili: Fabienne Babe
Elsa: Zoe Felix
Jeanne: Valerie Kaprisky
Francoise: Ludmila Mikael
Info on Marc Esposito:
Born in Algeria
56 years old
Founded French cinema magazine STUDIO
Written, directed or written/directed. 4 feature films, 1 documentary
Flash-Back: We’re on 16 July 1952 in Algeria. Birth of Marc Esposito. The young man is raised in Algiers, with his father Jacques Esposito, commercial attache at SHELL, and Josette Faus. A country he left in May 1962. After living in Carcassonne and Charleville-Mezieres in the Ardennes, where he studied in high school until Chanzy tray. It is in this context that is passionate about cinema … Marc Esposito becomes active member of the Cine-Club “8 1⁄2″, created by her teacher geo-history. Once a month, he presented a film of “arthouse”, with a debate, mostly driven by a critic in Paris. Coup de heart to Ingmar Bergman. His license in his pocket, towards the French capital …. Marc Esposito is at the entrance of IDHEC, film school and CFJ. He joined the Training Center for Journalists. Graduate, he connected the odd jobs: the newspaper Provencal, in Avignon, Marc Esposito covers all the summer festivals in the region. It is in this context that befriends Jean-Pierre Lavoignat, a freelancer. The two men later started Studio Magazine in 1987. Previously (1976 to be precise), he joined the First Film magazine. He became the editor in 1980. Over the years, Marc Esposito become detached from his job to devote himself to new activities. His first feature film, Patrick Dewaere, a documentary is presented at the Festival de Cannes in official selection, out of competition. Its theatrical release does not attract many people.
Quite the opposite of feature films THE HEART OF MEN and THE HEART OF MEN 2, an ode to male friendship, with a quartet of players: Gerard Darmon, Jean-Pierre Daroussin, Marc Lavoine and Bernard Campan. The actor and singer Marc Esposito finds time for a shooting with Zoe Felix, the beauty of his world, according to his book.
Former journalist and editor of Studio and Premiere, Marc Esposito was converted to the successful: THE HEART OF MEN, THE HEART OF MEN 2, ALL THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD.
4 January 2008 | From HollywoodReporter.com | See recent The Hollywood Reporter news
PARIS — Four years ago, former film critic Marc Esposito, who used to run the French magazines Premiere and Studio, directed his debut feature “Le Coeur des hommes”. After the dreadful “Toute la beaute du monde” in 2006, he chose to do a sequel to his first film. The huge success of this second “Coeur des hommes” — which topped the French boxoffice and has attracted over a million spectators in two weeks — should facilitate international sales, despite the fact that the first part didn’t sell well abroad. Certainly one can enjoy the sequel (which is much better) without knowing the original. A foreign — i.e., American — remake is always a possibility.
The pattern is the same in both films, which centers on four longtime male friends and the women in their lives. Jeff is happily living an epicurean life with a much younger girl. Alex is married but falls for a married woman. Manu just got divorced and meets the right person. Antoine goes from one affair to the next, until his wife finds out about his cheating and forces him to divorce.
Love, passion and faithfulness are the issues addressed by the film, which is in this aspect a very French romantic comedy. It adopts a bittersweet tone that helps the credibilty of situations that are occasionally bigger than life. The key value here is friendship. Most sequences bring the four friends together, and their conversation is enlightened by very funny lines.
This pleasant comedy is well served by a well-balanced cast of favorite actors. Gerard Darmon’s Jeff is the eldest. His dialogue is mainly composed of hilarious maxims such as, “Eternal love was invented when life expectancy was of 35 years,” which he pronounces with the tone of the wise man who lived many lives.
Marc Lavoine, a popular romantic singer less known as an actor, plays Alex, a hypocrite with an infectious joie de vivre. The scene in which he says, a cigarette in hand, that if he stopped smoking he can stop seducing defines pretty well this character.
Bernard Campan, a renowned comedian, has the most dramatic part as Antoine, a true romantic who does find eternal love. Jean-Pierre Darroussin has the best dialogue and situations. His Manu is not far from the parts he has played for Robert Guediguian as a man who genuinely experiences real passion for two different women.