Agathe Cléry (2008) User Reviews

My Coloring Book

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 27 December 2008]

If, during a game of Trivial Pursuit, you're asked to name a Broadway Musical in which one of the characters, a racist, turns black overnight, the chances are you'll answer Finian's Rainbow, the hit show of 1947, so, yes, it HAS been done before but NOT with Valerie Lemercier who is a Great actress, a Great writer and a Great director. This time around she is called upon only to act and she acts up a storm as the prejudiced career woman just getting to the top of her profession when, inexplicably, she grows bronzer and bronzer, gets fired and can only find a job in an outfit that hires primarily Black help. The twist is not long in coming when she falls heavily for a genuine Black colleague before just as inexplicably reverting to her own skin tone. Those are the bare bones but the flesh that Lemercier grafts onto them have to be seen to be believed. Outstanding.

Makes you think, laugh and cry!

[rowiko · 10/10 · 1 February 2014]

This is one of those French films (and there are many of them!) that had me sitting there with a smile on my face throughout! The topic is certainly not an easy one: A racist white woman whose skin starts turning darker and darker, in the process having to adapt her views - radically.

So to turn this storyline into a movie that is so funny and entertaining (some great musical numbers!), yet at the same time thought-provoking and heart-warming, that is quite a feat. And the director did a marvellous job at bringing that all together and showing us a part of French society that I don't find thematized in many films, or certainly not in such an entertaining manner.

Absolutely loved it from beginning to end. The only thing I don't understand is why the IMDb rating is only a very low 4.7. I believe this movie deserves a lot better.

A convincing movie

[cubmoviefan · 9/10 · 8 March 2014]

Few musicals have so a great script. Watching this movie is totally an experience, like living a real one. But in colors and wide screen. And with an end that leaves you thinking. Watch the movie, have it if possible, and watch it several times. You will know the story, but the music is great and enjoyable. The first time I saw it I enjoyed the plot, and scratched my head. The second time, I enjoyed the music and the dancing (both great!). Now I saw it for the third time and I didn't have to turn the captions on. I focused on the actors, their ways, the French, the places and manners. Well, never, not once, I was disappointed. In spite of being a musical, it is a movie that lives life and gives ideas. Highly recommendable.