While many of you will have seen this 26 year old heart-throb strip down to nothing in the erotic film, The Dreamers directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, Louis Garrel reveals something else in the French film Les Chanson d'Amour: his singing voice. This musical, written and directed by Christophe Honoré, is about love, life and loss through death. It was nominated for the 2007 Golden Palm at Cannes, and stars a brilliant cast including the always sensual Ludivine Sagnier (think, Swimming Pool, 2003 with Charlotte Rampling) and Chiara Mastroianni (Catherine Deneuve's daughter). Honoré skillfully weaves together a playful three-part musical about the youthful relationship between Ismaël (Garrel) and Julie (Sagnier). The relationship's fragility is tested through the oddities of a threesome (with Alice, played by Clotilde Hesme) and senseless death all wimsically portrayed through little bursts of poems set to music. While the film is earnest and authentic in its emotional quality, it does take real guts to create a musical that can be realistic enough and engaging enough for this generation. Solely for its musical quality, Les Chanson d'Amour bears a resemblance to Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964) staring Deneuve. Nothing, however, can trump the technicolor umbrellas and Geneviève's naive glamour in Les Parapluies. Although the songs are charming and surprisingly well sung (well done Louis!), Les Chanson d'Amour feels more like an experiment with slightly distracting sexual comedy.And, on another note: unfortunately ladies, Louis is already taken by the 44 year old cougar: Valeri Bruni-Tedeschi, whose brother-in-law is 'le Bling-Bling Président' Nicholas Sarkozy.
Oh Louis!....
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