Happily Ever After (2004 film)

2004 French film

Claude Berri
Pierre Grunstein
Nathalie Rheims

Starring

Charlotte Gainsbourg
Yvan Attal
Alain Chabat
Alain Cohen
Emmanuelle Seigner
Johnny Depp

CinematographyRémy ChevrinEdited byJennifer AugéMusic byChristian Chevallier
Brad MehldauDistributed byKino International Corp.

Release date

25 August 2004 (2004-08-25)

Running time

105 minutes^[1]CountryFranceLanguagesItalian
French
EnglishBudget$9.2 millionBox office$13.4 million^[2]

Happily Ever After (French: Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants; Translation: They married and had many children) is a 2004 French comedy drama film. The film is written and directed by Yvan Attal, produced by Claude Berri, and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Yvan Attal.^[3]

It was released in English in North America. For English-speaking audiences, the film is highly recognizable for the lengthy cameo appearance of Johnny Depp, who speaks fluent French.^[4]

The soundtrack also features Radiohead.

Plot

Happily Ever After dissects the viability of fidelity via the story of three buddies and their tumultuous relationships with the opposite sex.

The film opens with the central characters, Vincent (Yvan Attal) and Gabrielle (Charlotte Gainsbourg) capriciously flirting in a bar. Vincent appears to win the affection of Gabrielle over many other potential courters, but the entire exercise is a ruse; they are actually married with a child.

The rest of the film explores the nature of romance, marriage, happiness, expectations in life, how love and sex interrelate, and ultimately, why no one can feel fulfilled.

Cast

Charlotte Gainsbourg as Gabrielle
Yvan Attal as Vincent
Alain Chabat as Georges
Emmanuelle Seigner as Nathalie
Alain Cohen as Frédéric
Ben Attal as Joseph
Angie David as the mistress
Aurore Clément as the mistress's mother
Anouk Aimée as Vincent's mother
Claude Berri as Vincent's father
Nicolas Vaude as The disgruntled viewer
Luis Saguar as Casper.
Johnny Depp as L'inconnu

Reception

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 57% approval rating based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 6.01/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Though this French film features good acting, it lacks the wit and charm one would expect to see."^[5]

References

^ "Ils Se Marièrent et Eurent Beaucoup d'Enfants". Kino International Corp. Archived from the original on 2014-07-17.
^ "Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d\'enfants (Happily Ever After) (2004) - JPBox-Office".
^ "...And They Lived Happily Ever After". unifrance.org. Retrieved 2014-06-28.
^ Happily Ever After (2005), Amazon.com
^ "Happily Ever After (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 2020-06-28.