And If We All Lived Together? (2011)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy Drama	Main Menu Audio-Song from film. Theatrical Trailer-(1:59) Inferior picture quality 1.85:1 and 16x9. Trailer-(1:55) A Royal Affair 2.35:1 and 16x9. Trailer-(1:50) The Hedgehog 2.35:1 and 16x9. Trailer-(2:08) Copacabana 1.85:1 and 16x9. Trailer-(1:58) LOL 2.35:1 and 16x9.
Rating
Year Of Production	2011
Running Time	91:59
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (62:25)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Stéphane Robelin
Studio Distributor	Studio 37 Madman Entertainment	Starring	Guy Bedos Daniel Brühl Geraldine Chaplin Jane Fonda Claude Rich Pierre Richard Bernard Malaka Camino Texeira
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	$29.95	Music	Jean-Philippe Verdin

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Auto Pan & Scan Encoded	French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, Characters established.

    Jane Fonda stars in the French language comedy/drama And if we all lived together? The dual Oscar winner is billed fourth, alphabetically, but have no doubt Fonda is the star of this touching and movingly funny entertainment. This vibrant actress has been seen far too little in the past quarter century. After the disastrous Old Gringo in 1989, Jane Fonda disappeared from movies for fifteen years. In 2005 she re-emerged in Monster-in-Law, and followed this with Georgia Rule in 2007. Now she can be seen, seventies and stunning, in this (not quite) ensemble piece and there are other projects to look forward to. It is great to have one of the very few genuine actress/stars back on screen.

    In only her second feature, writer cum director Stephane Robelin has delivered a neatly crafted piece of work. In the suburbs and outskirts of Paris we meet five mature-age, financially comfortable friends. Jeanne (Jane Fonda) and Albert (Pierre Richard) live in a comfortable apartment, Albert suffering the early stages of dementia while she, a retired philosophy professor, is concealing the dark truth about her health. Anne (Geraldine Chaplin), a psychoanalyst lives with husband Jean (Guy Bedos) , a political activist, in a beautifully gardened grand old house. Their single friend, Claude (Claude Rich), lives in his apartment absorbed in his photography, his favourite subjects being naked young women. With diminishing libido, and despite heart problems,  Claude uses viagra in his frequent encounters with prostitutes. With their advanced years come concerns with isolation, loneliness and separation. At one of their regular dinner parties Jeanne, ostensibly joking, raises the possibility of the five old friends living together for mutual benefit in their last years. The catalyst for this actually happening comes when Claude has a fall. His son, Bernard (Bernard Malaka) has him placed in a home. On a visit to their institutionalised friend, the two married couples are horrified at his deteriorated mental state. They put Claude in a wheel-chair and whisk him off to the spacious home of Annie and Jean. Soon Jeanne and Albert also move in, and the five are all living together. To walk their dog, Jeanne employs a young German anthropology student, Dirk (Daniel Bruehl), about to journey to Australia to study the antipodean aborigines. When Dirk's plans do not come to fruition, Jeanne suggests that he switches his study to an examination of old Parisians instead. With a bed in the attic, Dirk then becomes the sixth inhabitant of the house.

    Robelin's screen play generally has conflicts and scenes evolving naturally from the proximity of these six characters, as they deal with the problems that come from co-habitation. There is much humour along the way, as in the installation of a swimming pool, but never does the comedy demean the characters or the situation - unlike that recent monstrosity Hope Springs. Perhaps there are too many park bench discussions between the radiantly mature Jeanne and the youthfully sensitive Dirk, with the result that Geraldine Chaplin gets much less screen time.That is a pity, as Chaplin gets better with age, and here gives one of her best performances. Both actresses look magnificent, and give vibrant performances. The older  men are perfect with young Daniel Bruehl avoiding any cliche in his younger  man role. It is Dirk's discovery of old love letters that propels dramatic revelations that you will no doubt have seen coming. Despite this, and because of the strength of the characters and the impeccable performances, we go along with these dramatic developments. The sight and sound of the film's final moments linger, and, at more than one level, pay tribute to what we have just seen.

    This film is gentle, funny, sad, touching, lovely to look at - with beautiful photography by Dominique Colin - and lingers in the memory. And we get to see the great Jane Fonda. If you are just discovering this actress, get hold of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and Klute - and both films MUST be seen 2.35:1.

    A word on the subtitles. I don't even recall reading subtitles,so they must have been excellent. With vestigial memories of my high school studies,  Jane Fonda's French sounded great.

Video

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Audio

    There is one sound stream, French Dolby Digital 5.1.
    Dialogue is beautifully clear, front and centred with no discernible movement across the fronts. There are no sync problems.
    This is not the kind of film for dynamic surround sound, but when the opportunity arises there is immersive use of environmental sounds. This is apparent in scenes involving vehicles, such as an ambulance ride and in the scene at the dog pound.
    The original music from Jean-Philippe Verdin is delightful and sounds terrific using all channels. I was often reminded of Alan Price's memorable work for O Lucky Man!

Audio Ratings Summary

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Menu

    This is a very basic menu, sans animation or live action, just a still of the six principals. We do have the "Will you come over song" sung through the menu. Options presented are :

                Play Feature

                Select Scenes : The music ceases, and a new screen offers two sets of six thumbnailed chapters, making a total of twelve.                                  

                Extras : Theatrical Trailer

                              Madman Propaganda : See below

                Setup : English Subtitles On / Off

Theatrical Traler (1:59) :

A very attractive trailer, though a little washed out compared to the feature, presnted at 1.85:1 and 16x9 enhanced

Madman Propaganda :
After first presenting the new positive copyright protection message, we have four trailers for other Madman releases, all very fine quality.

A Royal Affair (1:55) :
Presented at 2.35:1 and 16x9 enhanced this is an excellent trailer and presents a peek at a very handsome period romance.

The Hedgehog (1:50) :
Presented at 2.35:1 and 16x9 enhanced.

Copacabana (2:08) :
Presented at 1.85:1 and 16x9 enhanced.

LOL (1:58) :
No, not the recent U.S. version with Miley Cyrus, but the original French film from 2008, with Christa Theret as Lola and Sophie Marceau as the mother. Presented at 2.35 and 16x9 enhanced.

    This titles is to be released in the United States on 19th March. As yet I have no details of that release.

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