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IMDbPro

What If...?

Original title: Notre univers impitoyable
  • 20082008
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 27m
IMDb RATING
5.9/10
406
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
72,923
17,686
Thierry Lhermitte, Jocelyn Quivrin, and Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)
Comedy
Victor and Margot are both lawyers in a major consulting firm and form a solid couple in private. Yet one day they find themselves competing for the same job promotion. How will their relati... Read allVictor and Margot are both lawyers in a major consulting firm and form a solid couple in private. Yet one day they find themselves competing for the same job promotion. How will their relationship stand up to the outcome?Victor and Margot are both lawyers in a major consulting firm and form a solid couple in private. Yet one day they find themselves competing for the same job promotion. How will their relationship stand up to the outcome?
IMDb RATING
5.9/10
406
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
72,923
17,686
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Léa Fazer
    • Writer
      • Léa Fazer
    • Stars
      • Alice Taglioni
      • Jocelyn Quivrin
      • Thierry Lhermitte
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Léa Fazer
    • Writer
      • Léa Fazer
    • Stars
      • Alice Taglioni
      • Jocelyn Quivrin
      • Thierry Lhermitte
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 3User reviews
    • 3Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
    • Awards
      • 1 win

    Photos14

    Thierry Lhermitte and Jocelyn Quivrin in What If...? (2008)
    Jocelyn Quivrin and Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)
    What If...? (2008)
    Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)
    Thierry Lhermitte and Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)
    Jocelyn Quivrin and Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)
    Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)
    Thierry Lhermitte and Jocelyn Quivrin in What If...? (2008)
    Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)
    Jocelyn Quivrin and Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)
    Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)
    Jocelyn Quivrin and Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Alice Taglioni
    Alice Taglioni
    • Maître Margot Dittermann
    Jocelyn Quivrin
    Jocelyn Quivrin
    • Maître Victor Bandini
    Thierry Lhermitte
    Thierry Lhermitte
    • Maître Nicolas Bervesier
    Pascale Arbillot
    Pascale Arbillot
    • Juliette
    Scali Delpeyrat
    • Maître Bertrand Lavoisier
    Julie Ferrier
    Julie Ferrier
    • Éléonore
    Denise Aron-Schropfer
    • La mère de Margot
    Antonio Cauchois
    • Le père de Margot
    Eliot Pasqualon
    • Antonin
    Flore Labrande
    • Clémentine
    Thierry Gimenez
    • Mercier
    Joe Sheridan
    Joe Sheridan
    • Goudal
    Farid Bentoumi
    • Emmanuel
    Isabelle Cagnat
    • Femme couple
    Olivier Balazuc
    • Homme couple
    Roxana Carrara
    • La femme de la voiture
    Laure Sirieix
    • La famme de Bervesier
    Johanna Bah
    • L'ex de Victor
    • Director
      • Léa Fazer
    • Writer
      • Léa Fazer
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Léa Fazer's debut.
    • Goofs
      Around 00:50:18, the girl in the car is keeping her arms inside. On the next shot, her left elbow is outside the car.
    • Connections
      Remade as Unforgiving World
    • Soundtracks
      Dallas
      (French version)

      Written by Jean Renard and Michel Salva (1981)

      From original TV series theme "Dallas"

      Written by Jerrold Immel (1978)

    User reviews3

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    Univers pitoyable,
    Within the same time, space and actors, two different stories are told between quick shifts of the two scripts. Not always very clear,yet very well played by most of them. The struggle of family vs. successful work and wealth is a bit "ingenue", but keeps your attention. A "divertisement".

    The cinematography/ images were of the best I've seen of late. And the music matched what the camera shows quite well. At first, its beauty is dazzling. But in the end, it starts to sound menacing, cold and distant. La Défense seems like their apartment, their clothing, and probably their marriage: minimalist, perfect, and yet devoid of life.

    Sociology: There is a striking contrast between the small, overcrowded and anonymous popular flat Margot's parents inhabit. Theirs is a life more ordinary, like her sister's. But her parents seem happy in their marriage, or at least content. Whereas all the film shows "how unhappy brash young and very successful cadres can be" unless...

    That's why I think the film is written by, well, somebody who obviously doesn't like big companies, and who consequently casts some empathy on "love versus work". Consequently, all the film is a case in point for the director's sensitive view: "a return to basic values". Depicted in modern terms, with cheeky music in the end, but a XIX century morale, romanticism and all that. Alice Taglioni is very beautiful, I'm glad she didn't pursue a career as a pianist :). Her beauty is rather cold, but effective in what the director wants to show. Jocelyn Quivrin is fine specially as the "winner" of the job. Their secretary Éléonore has one of the best lines when she stops Victor in his tracks from leaving her wife for a mirage, a lover whom he idealizes because "she doesn't contradict him and has good sex". Cutting but real!

    Obviously Lhermitte is great at whatever he does, and in here, although I'd have liked to see a bit more of his manipulations, he does the despicable but able manipulator swiftly as usual. Maître Bertrand Lavoisier is probably the most likable character, the IMDb reviewer guy-bellinger was right of writing that. I agree to what he says about the director Fazer resorting to clichés too often. The film seems like a work made by a young author, still fighting with personal issues, forcing contrasts to "make the point". Given this Swiss director is very young, I think it's not impossible to wish she'll accomplish cutting portraits of social classes like, say, Claude Chabrol's.
    helpful•3
    1
    • stuka24
    • Feb 1, 2009

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 13, 2008 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Official site
      • Haut et Court (France)
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Nasz bezlitosny świat
    • Filming locations
      • Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Quai François-Mauriac, Paris 13, Paris, France
    • Production companies
      • Haut et Court
      • M6 Films
      • Canal+
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,475,994
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 27 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

    Related news

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    Thierry Lhermitte, Jocelyn Quivrin, and Alice Taglioni in What If...? (2008)
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