Affairs à la carte

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Movie
German title Affairs à la carte
Original title Le code a changé
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 2009
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
Rod
Director Danièle Thompson
script Danièle Thompson,
Christopher Thompson
production Christine Gozlan ,
Alain Terzian
music Nicola Piovani
camera Jean-Marc Fabre
cut Jean-Piere Duret ,
Sylvie Landra
occupation

Affären à la carte (original title: Le Code a changé) is a social comedy by Danièle Thompson from 2009. The film was shown for the first time on the screen during the European Film Market at the Berlinale on February 7, 2009. The cinema release in Germany was on July 16, 2009.

action

The Fête de la Musique , which celebrates the beginning of summer every year on June 21, offers divorce lawyer ML and her unemployed husband Piotr a good opportunity to invite friends and those who are about to become one. Both start the day quite nervous and have a lot to do with the preparations. Little by little, the first guests arrive. First Lucas, her lawyer and possibly future business partner, who arrives without his bored wife Sarah, as there was a heated argument on the way there. Then ML's sister Juliette with her older friend Erwann and the oncologist Alain with his wife, the gynecologist Mélanie, at whom ML was still for an examination that morning. The flamenco teacher Manuela, who she spontaneously invited for the evening immediately after class, should not be missing. But that her husband also invited the architect of the new kitchen and bachelor, Jean-Louis, does not suit ML, as she did not want any further contact with him after the affair. Her sister, on the other hand, is not thrilled that her papa Henri has announced himself. Immediately after his arrival he is taken to another room so that Juliette does not have to speak to him.

For the viewer the question arises, who is sympathizing with whom? Is there a new love or just something for this evening? Eroticism, longing and sex, but also grief and pain are touched upon. Sarah and Piotr rediscover each other at dinner and there is intimate contact in the toilet. The viewer also learns that Manuela and Alain have known each other for years through therapy, but she hides her illness from everyone. Only with the passage of time and the famous glass of red wine resolve irreconcilable conflicts, yet everyone maintains their composure . The superficial talk bores the aging Erwann and he meets the deported father in the former nursery of the sisters. Together they freshen up old times, discover similarities and lie in each other's arms in front of Juliette's eyes after an acrobatic rock 'n' roll performance. If you believe the guests, it was a wonderful evening full of harmony and a great meal on top of that. However, the masks already fall on the way to the car and there is talk.

Exactly one year later, everything seems the same, ML is planning another dinner with exactly the same people. ML is back at the gynecologist and only at second glance does it become clear that Mélanie has had a tragic accident in the meantime. She has been paraplegic since the end of dinner. But the evening was also formative for the others; Sarah left her husband Lucas and continued her affair with Piotr. Piotr is planning a divorce. Juliette makes more or less peace with her dad and Manuela not only made her dream of her own bar come true, but also beat her cancer. If only it weren't for the result of the gynecological examination that ML is pregnant. At the last minute, Piotr thinks about the divorce with Sarah's "help" and gives himself and ML a second chance. Together they all celebrate the beginning of summer with a slight melancholy at Manuela's.

synchronization

Mina Kindl was responsible for the German book and dialogue direction .

role German speaker
ML Katharina Müller-Elmau
Piotr Olaf Reichmann
Mélanie Ulla Wagener
Alain Frank Röth
Sarah Claudia Lössl
Lucas Michael Roll
Juliette Stephanie waiter
Erwann Roland Hemmo
Manuela Elena Alvarez
Jean-Louis Philipp Moog
Henri Thomas Rauscher

Reviews

Thomas Sotinel said in Le Monde : "Since all actors act with great vigor, one likes to follow the deprivations, the misfortunes and the frustration of people who actually have everything to be happy."

Thilo Wydra from Bayerischer Rundfunk said: “The Thompson duo of mother and son also partially succeeds in tracing the joys and sorrows of these individualistic contemporaries, but the overall dramaturgy does not seem like a piece, there is a recognizable alternation between light comedy and profound tragedy not balanced. The proportionalities are not correct. The figures [...] remain partly empty and stale. Fates are only sketched out. "

Christina Tilmann wrote in the Tagesspiegel : “This is how we expect French social comedies, and this is exactly how director Danièle Thompson […] pays them off: elegant banter over cheese and wine, a quick fuss in the bathroom, and in the end everyone is very unhappy and well entertained . Families and marriages break up and cement each other again, and one sees all of this with moderate pleasure and moderate dismay and quickly forgets it again: a lightweight. "

Daniel Sander wrote in Der Spiegel : “ To punish Danièle Thompson's film Le code a changé with the German title Affären à la Carte is tantamount to damage to reputation. The direct translation The code has changed would probably not have been the most elegant of all possibilities, but did you have to choose the most clichéd alternative? No film deserves that. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Certificate of release for affairs à la carte . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2009 (PDF; test number: 118 335 K).
  2. ↑ cf. efm-berlinale.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.efm-berlinale.de  
  3. ↑ "Comme tous les acteurs jouent le jeu avec allant, on se laisse aller au plaisir du spectacle des turpitudes, des malheurs et des frustrations de gens qui ont tout pour être heureux." Thomas Sotinel: "Le code a changé": pour son dîner en ville, Danièle Thompson réussit mieux le plan de table que le menu . In: Le Monde , February 18, 2009.
  4. ↑ cf. br-online.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , July 8, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.br-online.de  
  5. ↑ Christina Tilmann: "Affären à la carte": Who with whom? . In: Der Tagesspiegel , July 16, 2009.
  6. ^ Daniel Sander: Relationship film "Affären à la Carte": Generation Neurose . In: Der Spiegel , July 16, 2009.