"Ambitious" is a little gem of a movie that I seriously hopes gets distribution here in America. It is a breezy comedy about a love affair between people from different sides of the publishing tracks. A darkly human morality tale about our fatal attraction to lifestyles based on deception. And it is something of a screed against spoiled princesses everywhere who disdain real work and instead spend their lives judging others in an attempt to validate their empty souls. It works very well on all these levels which leads to a low calorie good time that leaves you feeling woozy yet pleasant, and completely guilt free (it's subtitled after all!).
The film starts off dealing with the ambitions of a young writer, Julien, who is obsessed with being published. His passion, however, is met with outright apathy when he finally gets a publisher, Judith, to read it. This being France, land of the easy lay, they are soon sleeping together in sin, and things only get crazier from there. Their adulterous affair causes some serious complications (don't they always) as the principles involved have to find ways to shake their significant others/booty calls. It has recently been reported that the brain responds to falling in love the same way it responds to cocaine, so I supposed Julien's irrational behavior during this portion of the film can be somewhat explained. She's a control freak career woman, but he is more than happy to follow her around, puppy dog style. As Julien works on his next book he has to hide the subject from his lover because it is based on her father's diary and he's not about to tell her that. So lying to the girlfriend about the mistress has led directly into lying to the mistress about the book for him. Once he does present her with the book she flips. I would say that he has every right to use her father's story for fodder, but Judith would disagree. However, to deny that his book is based on anything is akin to swimming in quicksand which he finds out the hard way.
Our former lover are soon at war over the book and the politics get nastier and nastier. It is unfortunate that the director feels the need to get all sappy on us at the end. The final scene, with its chase to the train station and its proclamations of love is the main black mark against this otherwise great film. While it does have a strong bohemian sensibility to it, Julien does not get off totally free. His ambitions do lead to him getting his book published and to him winning the girl, but director Catherine Corsini also shows that ambition swings both ways. His successes turn him into a national laughing stock who has to go into hiding just to save face. There is also the character Simon, the serious actor who is so set on making it that he is currently homeless. Late in the game there is a divine scene where he puts his skills to good use and plays a stalker set on raping Judith. It all sounds so mean spirited, and it is, but it is also hilarious. Besides, Judith has it coming, what goes around comes around. It is the best scene in a darn good film. ***1/2
The film starts off dealing with the ambitions of a young writer, Julien, who is obsessed with being published. His passion, however, is met with outright apathy when he finally gets a publisher, Judith, to read it. This being France, land of the easy lay, they are soon sleeping together in sin, and things only get crazier from there. Their adulterous affair causes some serious complications (don't they always) as the principles involved have to find ways to shake their significant others/booty calls. It has recently been reported that the brain responds to falling in love the same way it responds to cocaine, so I supposed Julien's irrational behavior during this portion of the film can be somewhat explained. She's a control freak career woman, but he is more than happy to follow her around, puppy dog style. As Julien works on his next book he has to hide the subject from his lover because it is based on her father's diary and he's not about to tell her that. So lying to the girlfriend about the mistress has led directly into lying to the mistress about the book for him. Once he does present her with the book she flips. I would say that he has every right to use her father's story for fodder, but Judith would disagree. However, to deny that his book is based on anything is akin to swimming in quicksand which he finds out the hard way.
Our former lover are soon at war over the book and the politics get nastier and nastier. It is unfortunate that the director feels the need to get all sappy on us at the end. The final scene, with its chase to the train station and its proclamations of love is the main black mark against this otherwise great film. While it does have a strong bohemian sensibility to it, Julien does not get off totally free. His ambitions do lead to him getting his book published and to him winning the girl, but director Catherine Corsini also shows that ambition swings both ways. His successes turn him into a national laughing stock who has to go into hiding just to save face. There is also the character Simon, the serious actor who is so set on making it that he is currently homeless. Late in the game there is a divine scene where he puts his skills to good use and plays a stalker set on raping Judith. It all sounds so mean spirited, and it is, but it is also hilarious. Besides, Judith has it coming, what goes around comes around. It is the best scene in a darn good film. ***1/2