Seemingly indie movie about a divorced mother and her gay son who are both on the dating game, and struggling to find the right partner. 
Which means that they end up almost like soulmates sharing a bed and experiences. Patrick Reilly as a somewhat camp Danny, 
and Kathryn Erbe as the mother make a credible team. Kathy Najima 
and James LeGros are useful support. 
The story however by director Mike Roma never really lifts above the quaint and inconsequential.
In a way we have seen it all before and better.
∇+
plays Francois Foucault and we see him at first totally struggling to get across to his banlieue students and then finally melting a little to encounter ways of reaching the kids.
Some of the other teachers help him, others reject him as a city fool.
Meanwhile, the largely ethnic kids teach him a lesson too even though they are manifestly ill-prepared to succeed in modern life. 
As with many school movies, it has an attraction and is quite watchable with a bitter-sweet ending.
But I think director Olivier Ayache-Vidal gets away with something less than it could or should have been.
We watch her in different relationships: as the lover of a banker,
with an actor who is a fussy type unwilling to commit,
with other men she meets through work or socially and her ex-husband and father of the child. It does all seem somewhat forced and yet…. there are some very wise observations and some symbols and pointers in the film, like the way the banker treats a waiter. Much to note if you are familiar with Parisian society.
A number of talented actors like Josiane Balasko, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Nicholas Duvauchelle and Xavier Beauvois appear plus Gerard Depardieu convincing as a type of medium.
Moody and radiant throughout, she perfectly conveys the artist who both suffers from and is elevated by love or its absence. I am not sure I would want to watch it again but there is enough here to make it a much better film than at first glance.
There are three types of scenes in the first part: meetings in which they debate their actions,
the actions themselves
and a few sort of frenzied dance scenes in discos where they dance away their triumphs. The second part of the film traces the love affair between one of the most fervent activists, Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) and Nathan (Arnaud Valois), a new recruit.
As Sean’s condition worsens, we get to see first-hand what they were protesting about. Pérez Biscayart is truly magnificent
as the film goes on and is well supported by the others
in the cast.
that fits the film throughout. An important social document.
trying to overcome his bland and inscrutable reputation by choosing the best regional energy deal at a Presidential summit in Chile.
He initially wants to support Brazil but comes under strong pressure from Mexico and the US to favour their proposals.
At the same time, he is facing a domestic political scandal from his ex-son-in-law and for that reason brings his daughter Mariana to this ski resort in Chile. She has a sort of breakdown and reveals some strange information under hypnosis but is she really so wrong about her father? This psychological layer may show her father to be someone very different.
Erica Rivas is very good as the personal secretary of the President trying to hold it all together and Gerardo Romano, as the Secretary of State, Alfredo Castro as the analyst and Paulina Garcia as the President of Chile all do well. Dolores Fonzi does another of her disturbed roles as Blanco’s daughter.
Mostly it is the portrayal of a capricious actress determined to give herself an aura, especially as she never quite sustained the top level.
Vanessa Redgrave as her thespian mother has a lovely cameo. And Julie Walters as Bella keeps the Liverpool side grounded.
Perhaps the most interesting portrayal is that of Peter by Jamie Bell,
who finds love and discovers a lot of truths by being with such a difficult woman, magnetic though she is. A pleasant enough couple of hours with good 80’s recreation and music.
The search shows us Russia today,
some goodwill and voluntary collaborations but a lot of indifference, incompetence and corruption. The director has plenty of messages for Russian society, which he believes is losing its previous values and becoming a cynical one. Maryana Spavin
and Aleksey Rosin
play the unsympathetic parents and only Aleksey Fateev as the leader of the search
seems to be a redeemable figure.
It may not be the most subtle film from this director but it is another important chronicle of modern Russian life.
passionfilm 