There is an opinion that female directors, being true experts on human psychology, knowing a lot about exquisite pleasures, undertake the production of pictures with taste, therefore they turn out to be aesthetic in content and form, and at the same time they are extremely emotionally soulful. Confirmation of this statement can serve as the film "My King."
Contradiction of opinions
Oddly enough, the world cinema community did not expect anything outstanding from the ex-actress, and now the director of Mayvenn Le Besco . Her film “My King” received quite controversial reviews after the Cannes Film Festival . Guardian contributor praised the director’s efforts by one, but the Hollywood Reporter reviewer was delighted after the premiere, relentlessly scattering compliments to Mayvenn Le Besco. The rating of the melodrama according to IMDb is 7.00. Most film industry experts, leaving supportive reviews of the French director’s project, called the film “typically French”.
"Typically French"
Indeed, in a certain sense, it is “typically French cinema”, if we consider the realism of Maurice Piala as a reference. Yes, the clarifications of relationships, endless throwings, feasts and erotica in the project of Le Besco are exactly as much as is necessary to maintain a reputation for Frenchness, in the superficial understanding of the Francophiles. Mostly the director’s work and the film “My King” (2016) as a whole are praised for demonstrating how differently people perceive love and how differently it expresses love.
Plot
Many reviewers, viewing the film "My King", described the plot as intriguing, but somewhat confusing.
The main character Tony (Emmanuelle Berco), a female lawyer of Balzac age, meets her youthful love Giorgio (Vincent Cassel). A violent passion flares up between the characters, their impetuous romance, which the film's authors supply with a mass of everyday and funny moments, ends with the marriage ceremony and Tony’s pregnancy. But the happiness of the couple, as usual, unable to withstand the oppression of the daily routine, is broken about the ups and downs of life. Giorgio leaves from Tony.
In parallel, the existence of the main character is periodically poisoned by nervous Agnes, a former passion of Giorgio, who continues to periodically maintain relations with her. As a result, it all ends with Tony tearing the ligaments on his leg, skiing with his matured son. Once in a recreational boarding house, a woman indulges in memories.
The film “My King” begins the story with this incident, reviews further development of events are positioned as an associative series of flashbacks.
In form and content
Few filmmakers were able to come to a unanimous opinion on the form of the “My King” tape. Critics' comments on the film determine the form of a film similar to a realistic novel: the illuminated time period is quite impressive - 10 years, five main characters - the main characters couple, damn Agnes, sloven Solal - Tony's brother (actor Louis Garrell) and his girlfriend, performed by Isild Le Bescot. In addition, according to film critics, the plot of the film contains the necessary randomness for any novel. Le Besco is not forgotten and the leitmotif of the twins: the bifunctional relationship of the caring and long-suffering Giorgio and the mentally unstable Agnes in the plot become the basic layout of the interactions between the characters. Characters occasionally simply perform castling within this layout, prompting the viewer to feel all the intonations and facets of such a relationship.
Acting movie
It is no coincidence that the movie “My King” is reviewed by those who have watched the movie as one-hundred-percent. The direction of Le Bescaut is practically reduced to non-intervention. Moreover, the almost mechanical structuredness of the narrative does not turn the melodrama into a dead machine, on the contrary, following the fate of the characters in a rigid plot structure is associated with the work of the fatum. Wrong choice entails a complete selection of situations that are tragicomic in their predictability, which, through the efforts of the author, are detailed and described in detail, and it’s quite vital and funny, without moralizing and pathos. All the features of tension, the harbingers of tragedies and the horrifying horror of everyday life are represented by a delicate hint, expressed in the language of looks, bodies, silences and heavy pauses.
Leading actors
Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Bercot decorated the movie "My King" with their presence. The reviews demonstrated by their acting skills deserved enthusiastic. Actors, reincarnated in the images of their characters, tear to shreds the passions of lovers, and after divorced partners to the pleasure of watching.
Vincent Cassel in the project of Le Bescaut plays as an adventurer, or restaurateur, but definitely a charismatic playboy, charming, lively and sexy playboy. The best works in the filmography of the actor are the films “Jason Bourne”, “Vice for Export”, “Black Swan”, “Brotherhood of the Wolf”, “Doberman”, “Crimson Rivers”.
The heroine Emmanuelle Berco appears before the viewer as a woman lawyer, without makeup, with a rather ordinary appearance. However, the French actress, who managed to try on the incarnations of a screenwriter and director, is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Her talent is grandiose, which is confirmed by a well-deserved award - the palm branch of the Cannes Film Festival in the nomination "For Best Actress". In the melodrama Le Besco, the actress demonstrated an energetic emotional intensity. Berko is especially known to a wide audience for the films “Mandar Street”, “Clement” and the mini-series “Carlos”.