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Avenue Montaigne (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:92
Fresh:68
Rotten:24
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: A cute and bubbly French comedy that carries no deeper lessons or agendas than to have a little fun for 90 minutes.
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Television
US Box Office: $1,933,592
Synopsis: The charming Cecile de France sizzles as a waitress with a dream in the French romantic comedy AVENUE MONTAIGNE. Directed by Danièle Thompson (JET LAG) and written by Thompson and her son,... The charming Cecile de France sizzles as a waitress with a dream in the French romantic comedy AVENUE MONTAIGNE. Directed by Danièle Thompson (JET LAG) and written by Thompson and her son, Christopher (who also plays a major role in the film), AVENUE MONTAIGNE takes place on the fashionable Paris street from which the film takes its name. People from a theater, an auction house, and a concert hall gather in and around a central bistro where Jessica (de France) has wiggled her way into a temporary job, having just moved to the big city. At the auction house, Jacques Grumberg (Claude Brasseur) is selling off his lifelong art collection and trying to reconnect with his son, Frédéric (Christopher Thompson). At the concert hall, classical pianist Jean-François Lefort (Albert Dupontel) is tired of being on the road and wants to settle down into a more easygoing lifestyle, much to the consternation of his manager/wife, Valentine (Laura Morante). Meanwhile, at the theater, soap opera star Catherine Versen (Valérie Lemercier) is trying desperately to impress director Brian Sobinski (Sydney Pollack) in order to play Simone de Beauvoir in his next film. And in the middle of it all is wide-eyed Jessica, who has an innocent love of life that captures the heart of just about everyone she comes into contact with. Reminiscent of such fine French films as LOOK AT ME and VA SAVOIR, AVENUE MONTAIGNE features unique, interesting characters, excellent acting, and a lot of fun and fascinating talk about art, music, theater, food, and other cultural delights. [More]
Starring: Cecile de France, Claude Brasseur, Valerie Lemercier, Albert Dupontel
Starring: Cecile de France, Claude Brasseur, Valerie Lemercier, Albert Dupontel, Laura Morante, Christopher Thompson, Dani, Sydney Pollack, Annelise Hesme, Francois Lepine
Director: Daniele Thompson
Director: Daniele Thompson
Screenwriter: Daniele Thompson, Christopher Thompson
Composer: Nicola Piovani
Studio: ThinkFilm
Reviews for Avenue Montaigne
Daniele and Christopher Thomson's marvellously crafted script brings all the characters to life as they struggle to shake the worlds in which they live
You know where to find "Avenue Montaigne." It's in Paris, near the intersection of Sappy Circle and Derivative Drive.
When it all wraps up as neatly as the treacliest Hollywood film, we don't feel cheated, but rather enjoy the satisfaction of a story resolved, and we're happy for each of the people we have spent our hour with.
If you're not going to Paris this spring -- and let's face it, so few of us are -- the next best thing might be Avenue Montaigne.
This is one of the wonders of Paris, I imagine, or at least of being rich in Paris: Even your misery plays like a fairy tale. In Avenue Montaigne, miserable souls are as common as raindrops, and each one is a portrait of privileged existentialism.
Orchestra seats are supposed to bring us closer the action, but in the end, this film is definitely more middle row.
Aside from pretty people behaving cutely, though, there's just not much here, and even devoted Francophiles may nod into their cafe crèmes.
The screenplay skillfully combines humorous complications with emotional discoveries, and Thompson gives an effervescent charm to her intersecting characters on the Avenue Montaigne.
Life and Art come together in Avenue Montaigne, a charming and accessible French export. Not too fluffy, not too deep %u2014 just right.
There are French movies that are clearly made with a French audience in mind, and there are other French movies that have a non-French audience in mind. Daniele Thompson's "Avenue Montaigne" seems to be aimed at a third, highly-specialized audience; peopl
A polished yet predictable piece of nostalgic, middlebrow entertainment, which underuses an impressive cast.
Thompson's crowd-pleaser makes up in refined schmaltz what it lacks in innovation or profundity.
How much you respond to its calculated charms depends largely on your response to the waif-in-the-big-city appeal of de France.
Avenue Montaigne doesn't pretend to be deep, but it's precise and observant about the way people of privilege persist in defining themselves by what they lack or long for instead of what they have, or have done.
This richly layered slice-of-ideal-Parsian-life confection wafts with the smell of fresh croissants and Coco Chanel.
If [Thompson] doesn't always know where to place the camera, her sparkling dialogue and the rich performances she elicits consistently make up for it.
A comedy with considerable depth about people who suffer despite their living amid the splendor of one of the most fashionable areas of the world.
Latest News for Avenue Montaigne
April 26, 2007:
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