Sadly Over-hyped

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This is the rare sort of romantic comedy that takes a simple premise (psychiatrists are probably full of s**t) and proves it when Juliette Binoche and William Hurt (the hapless psychiatrist) enjoin one another to use the other's flat while on vacation in the other's country. Hurt takes up residence in her Paris flat and gradually finds himself drawn to the mysterious person who lives there when he goes through some of her personal things. (Neither have met, they merely answered each other's advertisements from the newspaper.) The story continues to grow more complicated when a quirk of circumstance would have Juliette act as psychotherapist with one of William Hurt's patients in his absence. Upon his return to the States, Hurt meets the mysterious femme with whom he exchanged flats. Then, he is confronted with what has happened, not only with this one patient but in fact with ALL of his patients and the romantic comedy is thrust into the full swing. A very good movie, and a very fun and insightful script treated with a rare blend of intelligence and wit. This movie was made for Juliette Binoche, and Hurt carries off the role of her love interest with charm and elegance.

This mess needed a Lubitsch touch if it was ever going to succeed, and Akerman is no Lubitsch. Bad script, poor acting (although it is amusing to hear Hurt's French--what is behind this trend for American actors in French roles?; cf Malkovich in Temps Retrouve). When the best scene is a dog swimming in Central Park lake, you've got trouble.

I'm totally biased. Not objective or dispassionate. Juliette Binoche is my favorite actress of all time and every time I see her do anything on screen it's captivating. And William Hurt is one of my favorite actors. And the idea for the film was a very good one, however I think the french writer must have been resposible for most of the dialogue because a lot of it is nonsensical/out of place.That said, nice little stories like these (not cheesy, just "light") are one of the resons why I love film. I think of Chacun Cherche son Chat for the epitome of what I'm talking about...I saw this with my gf (now wife) at the Kabuki in SF and we both had a great time.

The premise is a little unrealistic, that a uber-psychiatrist would temporarily abandon his Manhattan practice to switch apartments for a month in Paris-a switch with an unknown woman made through the newspaper. Incroyable!!!But when you have a chance to make a film with two Academy Award winners, Juliette Binoche and William Hurt, set both in New York and Paris, who would pass the chance? Chantal Ackerman could not, the opportunity to make her first English speaking film a bonus.The film is a reminder of how difficult it is to cross the pond movie-wise. Nuance and sub-text is awkward or incomprehensible here-the threads on which the movie is woven are frassled.This artsy little film survives entirely on Binoche's vitality, her French innocence and enthusiasm dominates every negative New York influence her character encounters.It fails most everywhere else, sadly.