Or this is how I saw it, eventually. Like Angelique, I'm someone who imposes their taste on others, so it took me a while to catch on. For the first half, I thought this movie was about infidelity, which it isn't really.
Someone you thought was a boor can suddenly become a lot more appealing when someone else finds them attractive. It isn't just that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. It's that others see different things in people.
I have a friend who can transform music for me, just by liking it herself. Music that is 'not my taste' comes alive when she says she likes it. Suddenly I become the person with a certain taste to the person with no taste.
This is exactly what happens to characters in this movie. Castella is the pivot around which the various characters of this movie turn. He presents as a tactless embarrassment, a nouveau rich (please excuse my French) who travels with a bodyguard, Bruno. Castella doesn't care if Bruno is bored or not; it's his job. And there are other characters. The ones who have the farthest to fall when Castella passes through their lives are those who are quite sure their taste is far superior to his.
Funny, subtle, very watchable, and I learnt from it.
Someone you thought was a boor can suddenly become a lot more appealing when someone else finds them attractive. It isn't just that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. It's that others see different things in people.
I have a friend who can transform music for me, just by liking it herself. Music that is 'not my taste' comes alive when she says she likes it. Suddenly I become the person with a certain taste to the person with no taste.
This is exactly what happens to characters in this movie. Castella is the pivot around which the various characters of this movie turn. He presents as a tactless embarrassment, a nouveau rich (please excuse my French) who travels with a bodyguard, Bruno. Castella doesn't care if Bruno is bored or not; it's his job. And there are other characters. The ones who have the farthest to fall when Castella passes through their lives are those who are quite sure their taste is far superior to his.
Funny, subtle, very watchable, and I learnt from it.