Oh La La! (2006) User Reviews

French, Funky, and Engaging

[Jamester · 7/10 · 10 September 2006]

I saw this at the Toronto International Film Festival with an engaged audience present.

This movie poked fun and seriousness into a quirky man and his efforts at becoming a show director. Not a big time Hollywood director, but a small, French show director.

Was I expecting the opening scenes to have some Japanese in it? Not at all. But it did give the character some depth and interest and made the story even more complex, his intentions that much clearer.

And although the show was focused on some theatrical pieces, something about this screamed 'movie'...this is a movie, this is a cool movie, and it might be fun to watch this movie.

So that's it. This movie I found to be quirky, watchable, with French-ness interwoven against awareness of a somewhat broader geographical backdrop.

Chance Is A Fine Thing

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 21 April 2007]

This movie is a loving valentine to the wonderful Danielle Darrieux who will turn 90 on May 1st of this year and already has two further films in the can. Those who have seen Darrieux - who has been in show business for 75 years - in her youth (she appeared in Billy Wilder's first directorial effort, Mauvaise Graine, in 1934) and prime (the films she made with her husband Henri Decoin; Mank's Five Fingers with James Mason, Marie Octobre etc, will perhaps feel a faint sadness at the tricks Time plays or else, like me, they will rejoice to see a consummate artiste still able to carry a film and even end it with a song. Ostensibly this is a third 'Augustin' movie in which Fontaine has chronicled the ups and downs of a slightly eccentric character played by her own brother, Jean-Chretien Sibertin Blanc, but Darrieux steals it effortlessly from under his nose and that of Arielle Dombasle. No one will accuse this of being a great movie but it is definitely a WARM movie and Fontaine is to be applauded for celebrating a great actress. Roll on the DVD.

the trilogy is complete

[dumsumdumfai · 9/10 · 15 September 2006]

This is last installment of the modern low budget trilogy with Augustine. However, he is not the centre piece as the director Anne Fontaine explained in the TIFF Q&A session. Instead the film pays tribute to Danielle Darrieux, who I am not familiar with but as you can see in the long list of credits here towards her name.

I first saw Augustine in 1995 in TIFF and I still remember the hilarious interview scene. Then came the Augustin, King of Kung-Fu in 1999. It is amazing that Anne Fontaine can keep the same flavor in all 3 films, and obviously the same spontaneity in Jean-Chretien Sibertin-Blanc's improvisation. (Also remember in '95 our Prime Minister was also named Jean-Chretien).

This movie revolves around Augustine, using his unique resourcefulness in putting on a play/show based on a very old script - a period piece. In fact, Anne Fontaine mentioned in the Q&A that the original intend was the old script but she did not feel it was right and switch gear into a comedy. Good choice!! Instead now we have a play within a movie, that also plays-off the script about 2 female counterparts that quarrels over a younger man. Maybe the movie also speaks about how age affect role selection/choice in this business.