September 14, 2006
By Jae-Ha Kim
Amazon.com
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On the surface, Changing Times is a love story about a couple that
is reunited after decades apart. But unlike many films so desperate for
a happy ending that the characters' development are sacrificed to reach
such a goal, this picture concentrates on the bittersweet reality of who
they are today. Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu reunite (for the
first time since 1988's Strange Place for an Encounter) to portray
Cecile, a radio hostess living in Morocco, and Antoine, an engineer who
finds a project in Tangier in the hopes that he can find her and win her
back.
Their lives are now more complicated than when they first met. She is married to a Moroccan doctor who is unfaithful to her. And Antoine doesn't seem able to relinquish the memories of the Cecile he fell in love with, regardless of the fact that the woman standing before him today may actually be more compelling. The expressive actors take their time, revealing as much with their faces as their words. Directed and co-written by Andre Techine, Changing Times has a languid, exotic, and authentic feel. The one flaw is the inclusion of another subplot--that of Cecile's adult, bisexual son who hopes to rekindle a relationship with the love of his life--an ex-boyfriend. |
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