If your starting point is a story so universal and hackneyed that virtually ninety per cent of your potential audience will almost certainly have experienced directly or indirectly one or more aspects of it then you need something powerful going for you before you clap that first slate. Charm, perhaps; yes, we can do charm; strong acting chops, yep, we got those in spades, excellent script, yes again, in fact Ivan Calbarac - who also wrote and directed another charmer, On va s'aimer, ticks all the boxes in this delightful film. Alas, it is, I'm guessing, more domestic than international so the chances of screenings outside France aren't that promising. To get rid of the story, Bernard Campan and Mathilde Seigner divorce at the very start and reach an agreement that the two children of the marriage will spend alternate weeks and half the school vacations with each of them. We see most situations from the perspective of the elder child, a girl who, in addition to dealing with the divorce also falls in love for the first time. No aspect of the story has not been seen dozens of times before yet despite that the film has charm to spare. The parents, Bernard Campan and Mathilde Seigner are superb with Seigner looking more like Ava Gardner each time I see her. Bertille Chabart is also right on the money as the girl and there is a bonus in the shape of Gergoire Derangere as love interest for Seigner. Although we're rooting for it the parents don't get back together, Campan enters a solid relationship with a girl half his age and impossible-to-please Seigner keeps on looking. Just like life in fact.
