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Customer Reviews of L' Ennui

An Affair of Love?
Cedric Kahn's "L'Ennui" is the story of a middle-aged man, Martin (Charles Berling) who has just gotten divorced and starts having an affair with a women half his age, Cecilla (Sophie Guillemin). At first the relationship is purely a sexual one. He doesn't care for her and we suspect she doesn't care for him. But soon Martin realizes he may love her but she is a girl to love loved. He thinks she is cheating on him. And thus his world begins to crumble as he tries to catch her in the act. <
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> Other movies have dealt with similar ideas. Right now I'm thinking of "An Affair of Love", which was about two people who answer an ad in the paper about meeting for a casual affair once a week. Soon the two fall in love but never confront their emotions. The other movie is "Intimacy". A story about two people who meet every Wednesday for their affair. But soon the man realizes he loves her but finds out she is married and tries to win her over. Both films worked. "L'Ennui" on the other hand doesn't. <
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> Martin is a philosophy teacher and boy does he talk a lot! I've haven't becomed this annoying watching a character in a while. The entire film consist of him questioning Cecilla. But I'm jumping ahead, let me explain. Cecilla was seeing a much older man, a painter, who was drawing nude pictures of her. He died while making love to her and when Martin finds out about this he is intrigued by her relationship with the man, hence all the questions. If only Martin would shut-up once in a while and actually listen to people maybe he wouldn't be in the state of mind he is. Even has he is making love he never stops questioning her. And don't think Cecilla is a treat either. Who is she? What does she want? Does she love Martin? Can she love anyone? Who knows, and more importantly, who cares? We don't like either of these people. I don't see how they can even stand each other out. If I sat in room with Martin I don't think I'd last 30 seconds with this guy. <
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> What "L'Ennui" needed to do was drop some of Martin's dialogue give him more actions and tells us something about Cecilla. By the end of the picture we have a good sense of Martin, he's a pest and a loser. Cecilla though just seems heartless. But is she really? <
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> The movie was directed by Cedric Kahn who also directed the recent "Red Light", a much better film. Kahn is interested in human relations. He likes to put his characters in intense situations and just watch them explode. That sounds fine but you have to give us something to care about. I never cared for these people. I never understood them. <
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> Some people may watch the film because they find it erotic. One can't really comment on that because different people find different things erotic. I didn't think it was. But who knows. <
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> Bottom-line: Do you feel like watching two annoying people for two hours? This is your movie!

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Been there...
What is it with middle aged professors anyway?[8-D] I have had the same kind of thoughts and reactions as this professor, but they remained fantasies. It took me one day of teaching, and I discovered how vulnerable these young women are. (My race didnt matter either), they just feel so indebted (guilt for something?) to us and our passion for teaching them. For me its a natural thing to do, for them it is a gift to them. Definitely a such thing as a mid-life trauma or crisis. I would have wanted this girl in the movie too, because a real crisis like this often breaks outside of the social contructs; hence the trauma or crisis. Americans truely have been spoiled by their myopic view of what men want and what is beauty, and that it matters in this particular situation. I must admit that I was struggling with some of my own inadequacies also, which are heightened at this age. Funny how even achieving ones' dreams cannot fully engage total personhood. We must be careful not to get sideswiped by what we think "success" is. Achieving ones goal is not the time to see that as "success" (its the journey not the destination-remember that saying?)and then let your guard down. Suggestion: Have human effort but not without humility through a spiritual connection that you see as greater than yourself! It has to become a practice-not a magic trick, but it helps me balance things. PS. Men often avoid the "attractive" ones because they hide their insecurities, but a young girl who needs someone to think she is attractive... an older male tells her she is... well, it happens.... a lot.

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Better than many, but doesn't match the hype
On the most fundamental level, i.e.,a sexual/semi-erotic level, L'Ennui most definitely has its moments. As a total film, however, it stutters more than a few times. Technically, the subtitles occasionally flash too fast or are offered with no contrast so they become almost unreadable. The camerawork is quite good, however, with a definite European style. The story itself is also intriguing, but once the point is made,it has nowhere to go. The problems begin with the actors and plot. Not that the actors were bad; they were actually very good. But you understand from minute one that Martin isn't wrapped too tightly (his treatment of a fan, for example, early on), so his bizarre behavior once he meets Cecelia isn't surprising in the least. More simply, the guy evinces no sympathy in the least from the viewer; none. He's a complete ass. He comes off as needy, selfish and egomaniacial, one of those boors who are so deeply personally insecure they become outwardly obnoxious and nasty to hide it from everyone. You really don't care what ultimately happens to him, and also understand that if he did get what he wanted in the film, he would immediately reject it once he did, just to be hurtful. Cecilia, the more you get to know her, is just as bad in another way. She doesn't come off as stupid (as someone else said)or obtuse, but as almost totally uncaring and unfeeling, not to mention far more immature than her few years. She simply does whatever she wants whenever she can without a lot of regard of how it can hurt or affect people. She understands how they can feel things, but unless it touches her directly and negatively, doesn't really care. Look at how she regarded her father. All in all, it's hard to feel sympathy for her as well. She's not opaque but almost completely transparent. And to say the film's point was hammered home way too long or that the ending was ridiculously abrupt is putting it mildly.