Men and the Women - DVD

Content: Can men really love and be faithful? Or are they just driven by a single urge after all? Like buddies Greg (Gilles Lellouche) and Fred (Jean Dujardin), who keep picking up young women and having sex with them in a hotel, even though they're both married. Or Laurent (Dujardin), who is not so much interested in the lectures at a conference, but only thinks about getting laid with one of his colleagues the whole time - although a wheelchair-bound charmer (Lellouche) always seems to put a spoke in his wheel. The participants in a self-help group for anonymous infidelity also give rise to the suspicion that men are always about the one thing. But can the relationship between men and women really be summed up so simply?

In Men and Women, several renowned French filmmakers try to get to the bottom of this question. In addition to Oscar winner Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Jan Kounen (39,90), Emmanuelle Bercot (Student, 19, seeks...) and Fred Cavage (Point Blank) also make contributions on the subject of infidelity. These vary not only significantly in length, but also in their basic tone. For instance, there are three very short episodes that aim to entertain with rather crude comedy (It's not what it looks like), while some of the longer episodes leave a rather dark and dreary aftertaste.

In this discrepancy lies not only the film's greatest strength, but also its greatest weakness. It is a strength because the subject is not just treated as a pure slapstick sex comedy, but different angles and an effort to find some depth are always noticeable. But it's also a weakness, as there just isn't a harmonious overall picture. Those who just want to laugh and hope for a light comedy will be confronted with too many quiet and dramatic moments. And those who place greater value on depth and content will certainly be bothered by the cruder jokes.

On the other hand, the actors are really positive. The duo of Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche are convincing in a wide variety of roles, although on the surface they are only distinguishable by their hairstyles. But especially in the longer episodes it becomes clear how different these characters are also in terms of character, which makes the play of the main actors really successful. While Lellouche shines especially in the episode where he plays the older lover of a young girl, Dujardin's dramaturgical highlight is the story where he, as a husband, is interrogated by his wife about infidelity - a conversation that begins mildly amused and threatens to end in disaster. Together, however, the two are at their best as Greg and Fred in the episode that serves as a parenthesis for the film, ending with a wonderfully absurd finale in Las Vegas.

Men and the Women leaves a rather ambivalent impression. The tone of the episodes is just too different to make a coherent overall picture. Sometimes serious and a bit sad, sometimes over-the-top and crude, sometimes thoughtful or really funny - it's an interesting mix that only works to a certain extent. But the successful moments and the good actors are enough to recommend this treatise on infidelity to all lovers of French entertainment cinema of the lighter kind. Therefore: in large parts quite worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Since only a data-reduced press sample was available for testing, no rating can be given about the final picture and sound quality at this point.

Extras: Also the bonus material could not be sighted on the press screener. Announced are about 55 minutes of extras such as a making of, outtakes and a look at the premiere tour of France.

Conclusion: Men and the Women is an episodic film that leaves a somewhat ambivalent impression. While some episodes work really well, others drag on a bit. Furthermore, the tone of the stories fluctuates between extremely raunchy and silly and striving for a certain profundity. In the end, this just doesn't seem coherent enough to make for a harmonious overall picture. However, the two good-humored actors, the high-caliber directors and the numerous successful moments are enough to risk a look here once

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp