Opening August 22 at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd.
Eminently inventive auteur Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) finds inspiration from French novelist Boris Vian’s 1947 cult novel to provide the foundation for this visionary and romantic love story starring Audrey Tautou (Amélie) and Romain Duris (The Beat My Heart Skipped). Set in a charmingly surreal Paris, Duris plays wealthy bachelor Colin, whose hobbies include developing his pianocktail (a cocktail-making piano) and devouring otherworldly dishes prepared by his trusty chef Nicolas (Omar Sy, The Untouchables). When Colin learns that his best friend Chick (Gad Elmaleh, The Valet), a fellow acolyte of the philosopher Jean-Sol Partre, has a new American girlfriend, our lonely hero attends a friend’s party in hopes of falling in love himself. He soon meets Chloé (Tautou) and, before they know it, they’re dancing to Duke Ellington and plunging headfirst into a romance that Gondry rapturously depicts as only he can. Their whirlwind courtship is tested when an unusual illness plagues Chloe; a flower begins to grow in her lungs. To save her, Colin discovers the only cure is to surround Chloe with a never-ending supply of fresh flowers. (Dir. by Michel Gondry, 2013, France/Belgium, in English and French with subtitles, 94 mins., Not Rated, Drafthouse Films) Digital
Not your usual French film, since it is full of unusual characters and animated scenes. Colin & Chloe do fall in love, but her health is threatened and the mood of the movie goes indeed to indigo (if not black). Very creative animation and filming but not really a romantic film, except for the devotion.