Kennedy et moi (1999) User Reviews (6)

French falling down.

[dbdumonteil · 7/10 · 31 July 2003]

Bacri's character is sick and tired of his spouse,his work (as a writer running out of ideas),his offspring,his doctor,his dentist,his friends,the whole world.Like Mickael Douglas in "falling down" ,he goes off the rails:but whereas Schumacher's hero opts for violence,Bacri's character chooses a provocative way.He 's sparing of gestures ,but his sullen looks are priceless.

He seems to live in another world,which he has built from start to finish from his shrink's watch which might have belonged to Kennedy (hence the title).The scene on the boat -which features a very funny cameo by Jean-Claude Brialy- climaxes the movie ,with its despise of the family values (shall I bring back the wreath?).A short movie (about 80 minutes) but delightfully unpolitically correct.

Dog Watch

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 6 October 2005]

I don't really understand the approach that some people bring to commenting on a given film. I'm speaking specifically of what appears to be what I can only describe as resentment that a given actor - Duke Wayne is a prime example - appears to play himself in every film when that aberration is the very thing that has propelled him to stardom. Surely if it's widely known that, to take another example, Fred Astaire specialized in musical films that called upon him to sing and dance and YOU don't LIKE musical films then why pay money to see them and then moan because the leading player does what he is best known for. Jean-Pierre Bacri who is as fine an actor as he is a writer, which is saying a lot, has developed a persona of morose, misanthropic grouch and polished it until it gleams but most people who regularly watch French films know this and choose to celebrate the ease with which he assumes this persona rather than finding fault with it. In Kennedy et Moi he displays yet another facet of this character playing as he does a writer who is fresh out of ideas and is in addition undergoing a mid-life crisis. Sam Karman, who appeared in the original stage production of Cuisine et Dependences which was co-written by Bacri and his long-term partner Agnes Jaoui, and subsequently played alongside Bacri and Jaoui once more in the film version, has written and directed a fine film that explores this all-too common subject. Bacri is excellent as always and Karman himself offers fine support as does another fine actress-turned-director Nicole Garcia as Bacri's wife. This is a modest film but highly enjoyable.

Midlife crisis

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 25 May 2013]

Simon, a French writer, finds himself permanently blocked. He and his wife are heading into a tough time in their married life. Simon has discovered his wife, Anna, is having an affair with a colleague at the hospital where she works. With a pretext of an ear problem, Simon asks for an appointment with Dr. Munthe, only to realize he just does not care to confront him.

Simon Polaris shows deeper signs of being in a mild depression. His visits to his therapist pique his curiosity because the analyst keeps his left hand in his pocket all the time. The secret is revealed: his precious Hamilton watch belonged to the late American president John F. Kennedy. In getting to know the story, Simon decides he must have the watch.

Life at home is further complicated when his daughter, Alice, announces she is getting engaged to be married to a dentist. Simon, who has suffered a botched gum operation, does not care for his future son-in- law. Anne and Simon try to work out their relationship, but nothing comes out of it. At the end, Simon is just as lonely and unhappy as at the beginning of the story.

Directed by Sam Karmann, who also appears in a minor role, the film is one of those attempts to explain the reason behind Simon's own funk, which is never clearly explained. On the other hand, the film shows the excellent Jean-Pierre Bacri totally dominating the action. Nicole Garcia's Anne is an enigma. She is a chain smoker whose life has turned in a different direction from her husband.

Kennedy Et Moi/Kennedy and me-Sam Karmann follows the trend of including figures of American culture in a film's title.

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 6/10 · 6 September 2013]

French cinema has always followed a healthy yet strong trend of making films which feature the names of some of American cinema's greatest actors. Some films which have followed this trend are: Travolta Et Moi directed by Patricia Mazuy and Adieu Gary directed by Nassim Amaouche. These films have paid rich tributes to John Travolta and Gary Cooper. The film "Kennedy Et Moi" directed by Sam Karmann also follows the same trend albeit with a difference as his film's title includes the name of one of America's most legendary families-Kennedy Family.Kennedy Et Moi is about a failed writer whose life changes forever when John.F.Kennedy makes an entry to his life. In a country famous for its morbid obsession with America,the making of Kennedy Et Moi is not at all a surprise. However,this film has its own share of problems.It suffers enormously from the inadequacy of the script as nobody knows how Kennedy became an obsession for a failed writer.Apart from this minor yet important detail,it is felt that the depiction of mid life crisis in this film is not at all remarkable.One cannot do justice to mid life crisis merely by using force against all and sundry.In 1992,Sam Karmann directed a remarkable short film called "Omnibus".However,the talent which he displayed in that film is grossly missing in "Kennedy Et Moi" despite the benign presence of two great French actors-Nicole Garcia and Jean Pierre Bacri.

Bacri more touching than ever

[jffabre · 10/10 · 11 July 2002]

Even if this movie is less known and less successful than "Un air de famille" or "Cuisine et Dépendances", the awesome plays turned to movies by the duo Jaoui/Bacri, this Sam Kalman film describes both some unbearable way of living of middle-class, preppie type people, and also a most delicate subject: some of your children may be stupid and you may hate them. Even if it sometimes takes the easy way by criticizing (properly) dentists and doctors, I think it's even less conventional than the successful plays of the same author, the dialogues are not crafted to kill, characters are really touching and are not hidden behind their lines, and this Kennedy story is just another delirium that adds to the general funny atmosphere.

Un Mauvais Air de Bacri

[233RdC · 2/10 · 10 January 2000]

Jean-Pierre Bacri made weary existential fatigue fairly funny in such films as "Un Air de Famille" (1996) and "On Connait la Chanson" (1997). Here, he plays an affluent writer going through a sullen mid-life crisis - and you couldn't care less. Sam Karmann, the writer-director, really hasn't provided much reason for Bacri's dour mood except for a fling his wife is having with a doctor (which, given the sourness of her husband seems perfectly justified). The film lacks the crisp, tart writing of "Famille" and settles instead for interminable close-ups of Bacri's bored and depressed face.

When his character develops an tepid interest in the Kennedy Assassination as a way to break out of his funk (he doesn't intend to study it or write a book or interview Oliver Stone or anything, he just sits around watching the Dallas footage), the film becomes somewhat offensive. Using other people's tragedies as a way to find solace in life may be inevitable but neither Karmann nor Bacri have dramatized this man's spiritual crises well enough to understand why he would choose l'affaire Kennedy for emotional uplift. Kennedy's presence, like almost every one else in "Kennedy et Moi", seems arbitrary - not related to this uninteresting man's bad, bad mood.

"Kennedy et Moi" says no more than that even successful French writers get the blues (big surprise). Watching a middle-aged French actor mope around without a decent script, even for 1h 26m, is a chore no one deserves - not even the French liked this movie.