The humorous game with opposites between different social classes has a long tradition in France. This applies to the theater – at least since Molière – as well as for the film. Jean Renoir's iconic comedy “The Game Rule” from 1939 also belongs to this series. The highlights of the past decades include “Life is a long, quiet river” (1988), of course “pretty best friends” (2011) and perhaps even “the brilliant Mademoiselle Neïla” (2017), which was reissued under the title “Contra” by Sönke Wortmann as a German version. The knitting pattern is always the same: very different people from different social classes meet as unexpectedly as possible and slowly approach until they finally recognize (be careful, important knowledge of the French revolution, which is often forgotten!). All people are actually the same and that it is important to stay in touch with each other.
“How life sometimes plays” also belongs in this previously nameless category. The name for the genre is a “Feelgood class fighting comedy”, which is quite French despite Anglicism, at least in terms of dealing with class differences that come cute or mischievous in France, sometimes biting to evil. Typical is an unlikely starting situation with the simultaneous authenticity of the main characters. Here it is Marie-Line (Louane Emerera), a young woman from a working-class family who somehow tries to get through herself and her depressive father (Philippe Rebbot). On the other hand, the upper class, represented by the old criminal judge Gilles (Michel Blanc), is about to retire and lives in a villa, which is stuffed with antiques alone.
Criminal judge Gilles (Michel Blanc) has lost his driver's license-and inevitably committed the Marine-Line (Louane Emerera), which he was just convicted of as a chauffeur.
As the two come together, it is extremely imaginative, which should certainly be understood as a friendly description for “approaching the hair”: Marie-Line ends up in court at Gilles because she attacked her friend Alexandre (Victor Belmondo) in the affect and was observed by several police officers against which she defended herself when arresting. One of the police officers was injured. Gilles imposes a suspended sentence and a ban on contact with Alexandre, and Marie-Line has to pay 1,500 euros to the injured police officers-an unimaginable sum for her, because she has just lost her job as a waitress in a bar.
Gilles is piquant in this story because he is a regular guest in the bar where Marie-Line also met Alexandre. And because none of this is complicated enough, it turns out that Gilles has just lost his driver's license-the old judge is not only a disillusioned half-cynic, but also a drinker who drinks whiskey and water. And when the desperate Marie-Line appeals to him on the street because she does not know how she should pay for the gasoline for her car and the cell phone costs, let alone the punishment due, she is promptly hired by Gilles as a chauffeur. For 1,500 euros, she is supposed to drive him through the area for a month.
Michel Blanc enthuses in one of his last roles
Marie-Line agrees, which is not a big surprise. And this is how they come together: the lovable unemployed without a real plan and the bitter old man who has forgotten laughter. Both think about themselves and their lives and approach millimeters by millimeters. While Gilles becomes a fatherly consultant for Marie-Line who realizes her that she too has a perspective, she teaches him a bit of joie de vivre.
Michel Blanc (“They are the little things”), a star of the French cinema, plays the old judge with great reluctance. Gilles has obviously not only lost the fun of life, but also his energy and temperament. From this nuance, Michel Blanc, who died surprisingly in December 2024, develops his role: as a character that is practically only kept alive in the belief in the laws. He looks at the world with skepticism, but as a criminal judge he is also a realist. However, he has no family and practically no private life. If Marie tries to apply himself with the sentence “I'm talkful and always have a good mood”, his answer is: “Please don't have a good mood.” But as soon as he finally smiles, it has a bit adorable.
The story is right – and is becoming more and more credible
Louane Emerera, on the other hand, is very different than Marie-Line-a real bliss, naive and fun-loving. It somehow struggles without an idea of what she could do with her life. Special license plate: the preference for pink, from the long hair to the skirts. Emera, who is a well -known pop star in France as Louane, played her first film role as a musical daughter in “Do you understand the Béliers?” – and shows a really mature performance here. In addition to the grassy Gilles, it looks like a colorful bird of paradise. The tops are always a little too tight and too deeply cut out, the skirts a bit too short-Marie-Line is something like the cartoon of a French suburb. But Louane Emerera makes a look out of it. She confesses color and does not play the girl from the lower class as a stupid, although the figure is not exactly formed. Instead, Marie-Line appears as a lovable personality with almost stunning charm, a kind of raw diamond whose potential only appears through contact with Gilles.
Even if history sometimes looks fairytale: it works, it becomes more and more credible – and goes to the heart. This is mainly due to the two stars in the leading roles and the magnificent, often funny dialogues, but also at the setting: the comedy plays in Le Havre, i.e. in northern France – not a sunny good weather area, but shaped by rain, wind and sea. Director Jean-Pierre Améris, who became known in Germany through his comedy “The Anonymous Romantics”, has deliberately located “how life sometimes plays” in this rather bitter environment, because on the one hand it forms a contrast to the light-footed-loving tone of the film and, on the other hand, increases the effect of Marie-Lines background story.
Everything was still good: Marie-Line and her film-obsessed friend Alexandre (Victor Belmondo).
Her father, a former port worker, lost a leg in a work accident. Since then he has been so depressed that he can't even go outside. Améris shows this without evaluating it, while he casually touches other aspects such as drug trafficking and unemployment. He thus succeeds in a roughly drawn but clear picture of the conditions in this region. The film fan Alexandre, Marie-Line's friend and Lover, who dreams of a career as a filmmaker in Paris and works as a card sprinkler in the cinema, fits in this picture. After all, he has a dream-but the fact that Marie-Line has no idea about films and doesn't even know François Truffaut is difficult for him. Victor Belmondo (“stop lying”), a grandson of the great Jean-Paul, plays it elegantly and with a melancholic look.
Améris also seasones his film with pretty ideas: the beginning consists of several short flags and flashbacks, starting with Marie-Lines and Alexandres. And Marie-Line's car, in which Gilles is driven around, is, as expected, a pitiful ugly, formerly completely pink painted scrap cart, but is shown for the first time at the right moment. Tempo and timing are right here, but above all, the chemistry between the two main characters is correct in this feel-good-class combat comedy.
Conclusion: A feel-good comedy according to the proven recipe-no haute cuisine, but also not simple home cooking, but well-made and excellently played entertainment.