Romuald et Juliette (1989)

Director:

Coline Serreau

Writer:

Coline Serreau (scenario)

Release Date:

22 March 1989 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

A company president gets framed with a food-poisoning scandal and the only person who can help him is the evening cleaning-woman...

Plot Keywords:

Interracial Relationship | Businessman | Cleaning Woman | Children | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Daniel Auteuil	...	Romuald Blindet
Firmine Richard	...	Juliette Bonaventure
Pierre Vernier	...	Blache
Maxime Leroux	...	Cloquet
Gilles Privat	...	Paulin
Catherine Salviat	...	Françoise Blindet
Muriel Combeau	...	Nicole
Alexandre Basse	...	Benjamine
Aissatou Bah	...	Félicité
Mamadou Bah	...	Désiré
Marina M'Boa Ngong	...	Claire
Sambou Tati	...	Aimé
Nicolas Serreau	...	Fonctionnaire HLM
Alain Tretout	...	Vidal
Alain Fromager	...	Morton

Also Known As:

Mama, There's a Man in Your Bed (USA)

Runtime:

USA:111 min | France:108 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Colour:

Colour (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Not Rated | West Germany:6

Company:

Cinéa

sweet, romantic, fluffy

There's nothing wrong with a movie that doesn't attempt to be deep and meaningful. Sometimes, you just want a nice "pick-me-up" to brighten your day. This movie doesn't exactly bring rainbows to your life, but it's not a waste of time either. I don't see the point in trying to bring up a deep-rooted psychological undertone when in fact, the movie is less racist for it's frank and casual attitude about the subject as pertains to the two characters. When He says "why?" to Her, She replies "because you're white, you're selfish, you're ..." and goes on to list a host of personal traits that the man definitely carries. Being White is one of his problems but her characterization of him BEYOND that one fact illuminates her view that his race is only a problem because he embodies all the negative aspects of that. Yes, she's a "lowly" but the fact is that that's reality - many minorities are stuck in low-end jobs living on the "lesser" end of life. The unfairness of this situation is mildly underscored in this movie - she is obviously intelligent, wise and kind. Because she is black, this somehow means that the idea of her entanglement with him is racist? I enjoyed the fact that this movie added race (or allowed to, perhaps the original script didn't include that aspect) to the mix to further dichotomize their differences. The point is that their differences aren't as wide as it seems; she extols his flaws and makes a conscious decision to change those flaws. What could be sweeter than watching a man make himself over for the love of a good woman?

I say anyone who thinks this story has racist elements either missed the point of the movie or they think minorities should never be portrayed as they are globally: trapped in low-end jobs, struggling to live decently and often clashing with the well-to-do who understand nothing of what it's like to live so "miserably". If you think adding a dash of reality in a movie is racist, then you're living in a dream world. I found this movie to be entirely believable mostly because IF such a thing were going to happen in real life, THIS is how it would most likely go down: subtly, spasticly, awkwardly and romantically.

There's nothing wrong with a nice romance movie now and then. All movies don't have to change your life.