One Wild Moment (Un moment d'égarement) (2015)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy Drama	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2015
Running Time	101:17
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jean-François Richet
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Vincent Cassell Francois Cluzet Lola Le Lann Alice Isaaz
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Phillipe Rombi

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	French Dolby Digital 5.1 French Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     This 2015 French film is a remake of a 1977 French film written and directed by Claude Berri, one of the better known writers, producers and directors in French cinema. Both films have the same title in French, Un moment d'egarement. This one is known in English as One Wild Moment but is also called The Father of my Best Friend in other languages.

     Claude Berri is probably best known for being the screenwriter of Jean De Florette and Manon De Sources but also for producing Best Film nominee, Tess. He won an academy award for his short in 1966, Le Poulet. This remake of Berri's 1977 film was directed by Jean-Francois Richet who is probably better known for action thrillers. He makes a pretty good fist of this lighter material, especially by his choice of Vincent Cassel in a lead role, who usually plays more violent and disturbing characters. Some will find the subject matter of this film distasteful, involving a young girl (not quite 18) having a sexual relationship with the father of her best friend (who is also her father's best friend). I am not proposing to make this review a discussion of the morals or otherwise of this subject. Accordingly, I will focus on talking about the film.

     The story is a little different to the original film, updated for the times. Antoine (Francois Cluzet) grew up in Corsica but now lives in Paris with his wife and 17 and a half year old daughter, Louna (Lola Le Lann). He and his wife are struggling with their relationship and as his wife will not join them, he decides to go to his family home in Corsica for a summer break. He is accompanied by Louna and by his best friend, Laurent (Vincent Cassell) and Laurent's slightly older teenage daughter, Marie (Alice Isaaz). Antoine is quite pent-up as a father focused on protecting his little girl, the divorced Laurent on the other hand takes a more liberal view. The girls immediately start to complain about the house with its rustic charms, lack of wi-fi or mobile phone coverage. Soon however, they realise some of their friends are also in Corsica and start to go out and hit parties and discos. As they all relax and enjoy themselves, Louna starts to flirt with Laurent, eventually pushing him into sex. Will Antoine and Marie find out what is going on and what will the consequences be?

     This film is played for light drama and moments of comedy especially as the pent-up Antoine gets carried away with trying to stop wild boars invading his garden and find out who touched his precious daughter. However, perhaps due to the subject matter, it never really comes across as a comedy. Cassell and Isaaz are probably the pick of the cast members, both showing restraint, with Cluzet getting a little too broad at times. Le Lann does quite a good job of representing the two sides of sex kitten and confused little girl which make up the character of Louna. The film is great to look at as the landscapes of Corsica are shown off to great effect with the mountains and beaches looking wonderful. The musical score supports the film well and the production is generally of high quality with a good cast.

     This is a well-made film but doesn't set the world on fire.

Video

     The video quality is very good for DVD with nice sharpness, great colours for the beaches, mountains and landscapes of Corsica and very good shadow detail. At times the backgrounds are somewhat undefined and mild motion blur crops up here and there. Generally, the video quality is everything you would expect from a modern DVD. Technically it is 16x9 enhanced at the OAR of 1.85:1.

     There are English subtitles available which are clear and easy to read, although there are quite a lot of typographical errors such as not being able to spell 'crepe' every time it appears.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio is also very good. There are two audio options, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and a 2.0 alternative. I listened to the 5.1 track. There is lots of nice surround atmosphere which enhances the viewing experience. Dialogue is generally clear and easy to understand. A better than average DVD soundtrack which does a good job with the material. The film does not lend itself to a bombastic home theatre experience.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu features music. I was disappointed there were no scene selections available.

Theatrical Trailer (2:07)

    Subtitled film trailer.

    This film is available in the UK in the same format and there are Blu-ray editions available but not locally. For DVD the local edition is fine.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall