If the credits are rolling and you’re still getting relationship advice from therapist Gérard Depardieu, it’s a pretty good bet that your life blows; it’s also a good bet that the film blows. Let the Sunshine In is a film that reminds us all why romcoms exist – to give hope to the absurdly gorgeous among us. Otherwise, their lives, apparently, turn out to be a repeated series of romantic dead ends.
Let the Sunshine In is not a romcom, which is a shame because this film could have used a laugh or at least a smile. Not-so-starving artist Isabelle (Juliette Binoche) keeps selecting the wrong man. And when he isn’t wrong, I swear she’d find something wrong with him. Believe it or not, she’s divorced. The film opens with Isabelle having unsatisfactory sex with Vincent (Xavier Beauvois), which the camera found just as unappealing as I did. Hmmm, he’s not great in bed; he’s clearly not a looker. Maybe he’s charming … and there he is browbeating a bartender. Geez, money or no, I give this relationship about two scenes. Ah, it’s just long enough for Vincent to drop how that one of Isabelle’s exes cheated on her. Five minutes in and we’ve already established the only salient fact in the film – Isabelle is bad at selecting men.
Let me go back to the start of this review – this film ends with Isabelle on a couch discussing her man troubles with a guy who actually not a therapist, but a seer. This is how you want your film to end? And the film knows this gambit is problematic because it lets the credit roll during the talk. I have never had so much respect for the careers of Meg Ryan and Kate Hudson as I do right now. So you ended up in the arms of Matthew McConaughey while Natalie Cole plays in the background? Well at least that beats
a film ending with Gérard Depardieu reading tarot cards to help your love life.
This is the kind of film in which every potential plot point is marked in pencil because they all get erased. Whatever we think Isabelle is building towards is an illusion. Hence, this isn’t plotted film; this is just a character study. And the character is a pretty woman who either chooses wrong, alienates, or both. Do you want to see this woman be happy? I’m not sure after seeing this film. Maybe the cheap romcom effect is too good for her.
If you’re my age, you might remember “Let the Sunshine In” as the (Before) Christian rock encore for Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm at the Hollyrock Palace. Watching this tedious film made me wonder if said frivolous diddy was translated into French. And then many other thoughts followed, none inspired by the film itself. I do hope Juliet Binoche fins something closer to a romcom next time around.
Every relationship ending in “Why?”
Leads a woman to give in and sigh
When all this tedium
Leads to a medium
It’s time to give E-date a try
Unrated, 94 Minutes
Director: Claire Denis
Writer: Christine Angot & Claire Denis
Genre: Another day, another stallion-clad nag
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Frustrated women, maybe
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Frustrated moviegoers
