This was the first film I watched on Friday at the French Film Festival. It was a good film. I thought it would appeal more to women and upper middle class types from the suburbs. I thought my sister or sisters in law would really identify with this film. The film seemed to go on and on, and it seemed like it could go on about the utter banality of suburban life. The endless routine; wake, school, work, lunch, dinner, bed, repeat. I had just seen an art exhibit at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York. One of the sayings on one of the exhibits says "banality as savior" and I think this film really represents this idea. The character in the film are so addicted to the routine of life that it is their savior. They glory in their kids, their house, their cars, their friends, etc They need the routines, they need the social status. God forbid someone is different or misses lunch!
I grew up in the suburbs so, perhaps, I'm more cynical than most about life in the burbs. I really like a few of the characters. The women were really flaky. They wanted to shop, watch TV and gab. Only one of them worked as a free lance writer. They were so banal. So soulless. So empty. So smug in their affluence. So indifferent to anything outside the little burb World they inhabit.
Yet on reflection the film did bring in some of the fears of suburbia. It did present the possibility of a small child being kidnapped which was frightful. The kids also did misbehave. One of the wives was more flaky than the others. Yet, I can't escape from my conclusion that all the characters seem so shallow, so lacking in substance. Boring. Aesceptic. Banal.
I suppose the characters would change when the adults either stay together or divorce. When the kids grow into teenagers and become less dependent on their parents.
This was a different film. Great theme. Good characters. A strong criticism of suburbia.
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