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Regular
Price $19.95
Starring:
Jean-Claude Brialy,
Sabine Haudepin,
Anne Kreis,
Jacques Michel,
Jean-Pierre Gos,
Directed By:
Lorenzo Gabriele,
Rated: Unrated
Release Date: 2002
Studio: Picture This! Home Video
Format:
AC-3,
Closed-captioned,
Color,
Dolby,
DVD-Video,
Subtitled,
Widescreen,
NTSC,
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Customer Reviews for
As Luck Would Have It
A Sensitive Comedy
"As Luck Would Have It"
A Sensitive Comedy
Amos Lassen
Switzerland has a unique law in that every citizen, at the whim of the court, can be assigned a live-in foster child and that is just what happens when a brilliant university professor and part-tine author Jean-Pierre (Jean-Claude Brialy) learns that he will be responsible for Antoine (Julien Bravo), a teen. Disaster raises its head on the situation. Everyone thinks that Jean-Pierre is happily married to a woman but for years he has been in love with Armando, his masseur. Coming out would cause harm to his career so he tries to influence the judge not to make him take Antoine but this backfires and opens an investigation as to his suitability to be a foster father.
Jean-Pierre has only one alternative and he gets back in touch with Alice (Sabine Haudepin), a girl he once married as a favor, When Antoine moves into Jean-Pierre's home, Armando becomes hysterical and Jean-Pierre is thrown into a situation of misunderstandings from which he must salvage some sense of reality.
This film is charming from beginning to end and the cast is superb. It is a tender story about the issues that are faced by a gay man who tries to manage his professional life with his personal one. We get to look at the different ways in which love manifests itself and we learn how to handle relationships and societal problems as they refer to us.
There are many comic moments in the film but what makes this movie so special is that it is touching. It gives hope that things will get better for the gay people of the world. "As Luck Would Have It" is beautifully photographed as has a wonderful cast. It certainly was a great deal more than I expected.
As Luck Would Have It
A Lucky Discovery
I really enjoyed this film despite the fact that it was French. (OK, it may be Swiss-French but I was unable find any info on IMDB.) I have a snarky nickname for French films: Plotless Wonders. That's because when on the rare occasion French filmmakers deign to include something as pedestrian as a plot it's buried under layers and layers of allegory, symbolism and metaphor. Not my cup of tea and because of this, I avoid French films as a rule. But this movie is a refreshing exception. And it actually has a plot although some coincidences are a bit too far-fetched to accept. It's the funny and well-acted story of a literature professor who is appointed the guardian of a sixteen-year-old orphan. The more he protests the appointment, the deeper in trouble he gets. Some of the characters have sudden and unexplained personality changes but I was able to overlook this because most the characters are so likable and the story so much fun. Well worth a rent!As Luck Would Have It
Sweet without being sacharine
There are very films I watch, even the very best ones, where I think to myself afterwords how much I want to hang out with the main characters. This is one of those films.
The three major male leads in this movie, Armando, Antoine and Jean-Pierre, are all basically pleasant fellows that I would rather like to have dinner with. It helps that Julien Bravo, who plays Antoine, is really quite easy on the eyes, but that's not as important as it usually is to me.
Beyond that, the acting in the movie is very good, and the writing and direction are decent as well. And if the plot's a little cliched, and if you know what's likely to happen at the end, well, that's not always a bad thing.
Basically this is just a very sweet, very pleasant film. I won't go so far as to say your life will be better for watching it, but it certainly won't be worse.As Luck Would Have It
Superficial
I'm sorry to say I didn't like the movie at all.
The characters were phony, superficial, clichéd, with those convenient traits that only show in time for the required plot twist. But the worst for me, was that the comedy felt forced, contrived, and not funny at all.
The image is anamorphic but soft and with really terrible ghosting, a clear case of PAL to NTSC conversion, though I may be wrong.As Luck Would Have It
A Warm, Sensitive, Genteel Human Comedy
'Le Hasard Fait Bien Les Choses' (AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT) is a thoroughly surprising film. The marketing ploy makes this very well written (Julie Gilbert and Philippe Le Dem) and well directed (Lorenzo Gabriele) seem to be something it is not - a flashy fleshy gay flick from France. But what the viewer discovers soon after the film begins is a very tender story about the conflicts older gay men face in attempting to manage professional lives with personal lives.
Jean-Pierre Muller (the gifted Jean-Claude Brialy) is a highly respected professor in his late 50s who is about to be honored for his achievements in teaching by the University. He is a proper gentleman and kind human being who hides his personal life: he is gay and has a quasi live-in lover Armando (Antonio Interlandi) in a very successful though closeted relationship for appearance's sake (even his longtime housekeeper Ana - Elena Noverraz - apparently doesn't know)! All is smooth until a handsome young lad Antoine (Julien Bravo) is put before the court system as a minor who has lost his parents and needs an assigned guardian. In a strange law the judge (Anne Kreis) selects a random name (Jean-Pierre, of course) to be the guardian. Though Jean-Pierre is reluctant to accept guardianship for the somewhat feisty lad (who is encouraged by his girlfriend Samantha - Lorriane Cherpillod - to try to get some cash from the court order), he discovers that he cannot appeal the decision for three months time. Desperate to continue his progress towards his desired honorary degree AND to keep his sexuality secret form the courts fearing they may hamper his chances, Jean-Pierre calls his 'arranged wife' Alice (Sabine Haudepin), whom he married to aid Alice's immigration status years ago, to be his 'front'. Alice, just dumped by her lover Grégoire (Juan-Antonio Crespillo) agrees, moves in much to Armando's chagrin, and the facade is in place. What occurs in this 'arrangement' is the resolution of each of the individual components in a manner that shows us that dignity, love, self-respect, and honesty are infectious and benefit all of us.
The cast is uniformly excellent without a weak link. Jean-Claude Brialy is superb as the self-conscious but loving centerpiece, and the air of comedy and sensitivity conveyed by Sabine Haudepin, Antonio Interlandi, Elena Noverraz, newcomer and very promising Julien Bravo, and Anne Kreis are pitch perfect without ever stooping to stereotypes. This is a film for both gay and straight audiences who appreciate the manifestations of love, healthy relationships, caring, social problems, and understanding would enjoy. In French with English subtitles and unfortunately no extras on the DVD. Recommended. Grady Harp, March 06As Luck Would Have It
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