The determinedly uplifting comedy follows a 50-year-old French filmmaker as she dates in Los Angeles.
After years of Americans having romantic epiphanies onscreen in Paris, “I Love America” returns the favor by setting Sophie Marceau loose on Tinder in Los Angeles. Marceau plays Lisa, a 50-year-old filmmaker and mother of two loving daughters who tries a personal reset by leaving France. Originally released in France, it’s a determinedly uplifting comedy of growth, based on the experiences of its director, Lisa Azuelos.
The plot can be summed up in a group of keywords: dating scene, gay best friend, fish out of water, mommy issues, yoga humor. With the help of her trusty but heartbroken pal, Luka (Djanis Bouzyani), Lisa navigates the gauche rituals of modern American romance — we are told that the French don’t really do dates — but she finds a keeper, John (Colin Woodell), without much trouble.
Clunky flashbacks reveal how Lisa’s aloof mom, a singer, dumped her at a boarding school, though she did have a groovy, disco-loving dad. (Azuelos’s mother was the singer and actress, Marie Laforêt, who died in 2019, and the flashbacks evoke some of Azuelos’s own childhood.) Lisa’s voice-over delivers pseudowisdom, and wedding crowd pleasers fill the soundtrack.
Marceau beams with unshakable good vibes, like a lion in the sun, though that makes her woes feel not so woeful. But Azuelos’s film does glimpse moments that feel true to the sometimes strange complexity of emotions — Lisa and her sister bond over having strong sex drives after their mother’s death — and it has a certain through-the-looking-glass curiosity value for American audiences. Plus, legions of giggling, English-speaking schoolkids will be delighted by a scene that builds a punchline around the French word for seal.
I Love America
Not rated. In French and English, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes. Watch on Amazon.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
