Why is life on and off again? Recently, in France, more and more films are made that tell about the lives of people who are not quite like everyone else. These are people with impaired hearing, speech or musculoskeletal system. Each tells a new story about how to live someone who is not understood and not accepted. So the painting “Life on repeat” can be among those. The main character is a successful businessman - General Director of a promising automotive enterprise for the production of electric vehicles. And everything in his life is good and beautiful, life is laid out on shelves, in business, success is continuous, until one day everything changes overnight. Namely, he is struck 2 times by a stroke. As a result, he partially loses his memory, speech, and much of his knowledge of what was in his life, what he knew, and where he had been. And, in order not to fall completely from this huge ship called “life”, the main character decides to restore his speech, his knowledge in any way. To do this, he hires a professional speech therapist, who every day spends many hours with a once successful person, tries to help a businessman become a human again. Everything else is better to see and hear for yourself, to get a full impression of the film, rather than listening to someone's retelling.
Well, now, I would like to describe my impressions of the picture, moving away from the plot a little.
First of all, once again I want to criticize those who were engaged in the creation of the translation of the title of the film. What does “life on repeat” mean? What exactly is repeated in the life of a hero other than learning? New love, new job, new kids? No, there's nothing like that. Since I honestly do not speak French, I used the translator of the original title of the picture, which sounds like “Un homme press?” and the results I liked much more than the interpretation that our marketers allowed themselves to promote the picture on the Russian market. The original title “Ever in a hurry” or “Obviously somewhere in a hurry” could be more resoundingly replayed into Russian than to call the picture “Life on repeat”. I am sure that the slogan “Only forward” or something like that would sound much more correct than the option offered to us. Oh, come on. What we have, we have.
The picture seemed to me similar in meaning to “1 + 1”, with the participation of Omar Si and François Cluse. The same disabled person, even if not in such a neglected form, the same kind of caregiver and the same desire to show that life after acquiring the status of “disabled person” does not end. If you’ve seen one of these movies, you’ll appreciate the other.
In the picture, in addition to the main storyline, there are several more that are not so brightly illuminated, but still make the film not so one-sided and one-sided. Here is the problem of employment of disabled people. And no matter how they say that in Europe, if you become disabled, then the state will make every effort to make such a person remain part of society, the picture shows the opposite. The main character comes to the labor exchange to find a job that will bring him pleasure in life, and he was told in a softer form than we would have, go get treated and no work for you. Here we go. And we are all told that this category of people is treated differently. That's not true!
Separately, the topic of relations between M and J is briefly touched upon. And even if you work in the same place with someone who makes your heart beat unevenly, oh how difficult it is to admit your feelings and just ask on a date.
The film is incomplete, but still raises the issue of fathers and children. Even speaking one language does not guarantee that you will be understood. In this film, the father does not always hear the daughter, and the child does not always understand and believe what the father says. And it seems that not everything is so pronounced, but at some point slips the sharp phrase of the daughter addressed to his father that the latter always thought only of himself, that he is never there, and the only time when the daughter really needed the support of the father, he was not there. And it does not matter what arguments the “ancestor” who suffered 2 extensive strokes gives. The child does not hear or listen to him. This is the problem of different generations - to listen, to hear and to be heard.
Well, come on with the problems highlighted in the picture. Now I am more interested in one small moment, which is strangely presented in the picture. After a not quite successful auto show in Geneva, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company invites the disabled protagonist to his office for a serious conversation. At the same time, when the director of the company enters the office of the Chairman, the latter stands with his back to our hero and does not say a word. Instead, the director is told about his dismissal by someone who is clearly below his rank. When it's in the business world, the director listened to what his subordinate told him? Even if you get fired. The Chairman himself should tell you about this, and certainly not the vice or deputy or even the hell knows who. Where's the chain of command? In real life, the director would have previewed this young upstart and talked to the chief. At the same time, I remembered the good old saying, which is somehow appropriate in this situation - "An egg does not teach a chicken," what to do, when and how.
That's it. This is the analysis of the picture.
Acting. I can only express my opinion, whose game I liked the most, and whose – did not like at all.
Lukini and the psychopath Jeanne played great. Oh, my daughter. I am sure that at times her acting talent has not yet been revealed, or it will not be at all. Well, the Chairman and his “deputy”, who gives instructions to an employee in a position higher than himself – these 2 characters I did not like at all. Unsuccessful characters correspond to the unsuccessful play of the actors themselves.
Although, according to critics, the film “Life on repeat” was not next to “1 + 1”, but I liked the picture, for which I deserved high praise. I advise you to look at least once to understand what it is like to lose in a second everything you have been striving for all your life and how to start living again.
8 out of 10
Despite the underestimation of the film critics.