Today's review:

Fool Circle
A comedy directed by Vincent Mariette in 2014
Starring Ludivine Sagnier, Laurent Lafitte, Vincent Macaigne... 
Release date in France: June 4, 2014 
Rating: 3/5

SYNOPSIS

Bruno and Léon are two brothers with very different characters. While one is timid and reserved, the other is a braggart and also the kind of loser who wonders whether his young son might happen to have a checkbook! Both brothers are obliged to get together for their father's funeral, which is to be held in their hometown - which they both fled in the past. Once back there, they find no one, apart from a strange, young woman named Chloé. She's a little nutty and claims she's their step-sister. Intrigued by this revelation, the two siblings try to learn more. Their discoveries lead them to encounter a series of characters, each more bizarre than the last...

REVIEW

"I've got good news to tell you. Dad's dead." And so Bruno (Vincent Macaigne) and his brother Léon (Laurent Lafitte) hit the road, heading for the French Alps to attend the funeral of their negligent father. There is no one at the ceremony, apart from Chloé (Ludivine Sagnier), who claims to be their sister, which is total news to the brothers... With just a few scenes in his debut feature, Vincent Mariette establishes the same droll and melancholic atmosphere present in his short films (Mixed Doubles, The Lizards). In a style similar to Wes Anderson's, his road movie moves along at the pace of Léon's red Porsche, progressing on the rhythm of childhood memories and family secrets that suddenly emerge from the past. For Fool Circle is a film about reconstruction. Each member of the trio goes through a personal crisis that they dare not admit to. But, as ties (re)bind between them, the film loses its ironic tone, in exchange for gentleness. Laurent Lafitte, as a former tennis champion and redneck, and Vincent Macaigne, in his traditional role of awkward and bumbling lover, confirm that they continue to excel at performing in a bitter-sweet style.

Review by Jérémie Couston for Télérama.

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