
The differences in legalities and cultural mores of French and Americans regarding sex, love, marriage, religion, and family bonds are presented through the interactions of two families related by marriage. American Isabel Walker (Kate Hudson) heads to Paris to visit her half-sister, poet Roxeanne de Persand (Naomi Watts), who is early in the pregnancy of her second child. Isabel arrives to find that Roxy's French husband, Charles-Henri de Persand (Melvil Poupaud), has just l... (Full plot summary below)
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The differences in legalities and cultural mores of French and Americans regarding sex, love, marriage, religion, and family bonds are presented through the interactions of two families related by marriage. American Isabel Walker (Kate Hudson) heads to Paris to visit her half-sister, poet Roxeanne de Persand (Naomi Watts), who is early in the pregnancy of her second child. Isabel arrives to find that Roxy's French husband, Charles-Henri de Persand (Melvil Poupaud), has just left Roxy, the sisters both eventually further learning that it is because he has fallen in love with another woman, who is married. Roxy and Charles-Henri deal with their break-up, which Roxy does not want, but must face the legal consequences of, including determining the ownership of what may be a valuable French painting that has been casually in the Walker family for years, but which Roxy has had in her possession since she got married. Meanwhile, Isabel begins to explore all that France has to offer, which includes concurrently embarking on sexual relationships with two men, including one with Charles-Henri's older maternal uncle, the wealthy and well-appointed Edgar Cosset (Thierry Lhermitte), who is already married and who is using the same playbook on her that he has on countless women before her. As groups and individuals within the two families disagree and argue about certain issues they are facing, it does not necessarily affect other issues and relationships between the two families based on their priorities and those cultural and legal standards.
Leave your thoughts about Le Divorce.
| Seattle TimesMoira MacDonaldBreezy pleasure, complete with cultural commentary that never quite stings. |
| One Guy's OpinionFrank SwietekA stilted, arch affair from which you may feel the need of a quick separation. |
| CompuserveHarvey S. KartenMerchant-Ivory's fluffiest (if overplotted) comedy of manners. |
| Rolling StonePeter TraversActed with relish by a note-perfect cast -- a romantic comedy of true sophistication. There's a sting in every laugh. |
| Washington PostDesson ThomsonA relaxed delight, a series of delicately tongue-in-cheek musings about the clash between American and French cultures. |
| CinemaBlendTiffany SanchezA winning tragicomedy about the oddities of two uniquely wacky cultures. |
| FILMINK (Australia)Mark Adnumtoo many undeveloped plot strands and a dozen too many famous faces, who keep popping up and then disappearing like some kind of star-studded carousel. |
| New York ObserverAndrew SarrisThe Merchant -Ivory -Jhabvala triumvirate has once more scaled the heights of the 'cinema of manners' achieved in their repertoire of picture-perfect period pieces. |
| Filmcritic.comChris BarsantiMerchant-Ivory has found a different muse |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertWhile there are too many characters in too much story for the movie to really involve us, it's amusing as a series of sketches about how the French think they are a funny race (or the Americans, take your choice). |