Happily Ever After

2004
6.4| 1h40m| en| More Info
Released: 25 August 2004 Released
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Synopsis

Is love compatible with coupledom? And what of freedom and fidelity? These are some of the questions facing two married men.

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Reviews

2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!
Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined
Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?
Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
whiskey18799 The greatest foreign film I have seen as well as one of the best movies ever. The reason is because the film progress very fluid like because of the story and great performances with a little bit of Johnny Depp added. Most people who don't like this movie don't because they don't understand it. Luckily, the director explains key points (in the featurette).Also, the female lead is so likable and adorable that every guy wishes he had her as a wife. Also, there are many turning points that make the movie not be predictable. The main reason it is so interesting is because it shows what life is like in Europe. Veyr interesting movie. Highly recommended!
gradyharp "Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants" ("Happily Ever After") is a cleverly written examination of contemporary views on love, lust, marriage, infidelity, and the single life. Writer/Director/Actor Yvan Attal has come up with a winner, an entertaining, funny, and ultimately thoughtful treatise on how we cope with partnering.Three men work together in a car dealership. Vincent (Yvan Attal) is the apparently happily married man with a beautiful wife Gabrielle (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and child. Georges (Alain Chabat) on the other hand is in a tumultuous marriage with Nathalie (Emmanuelle Seigner) who has gender issues that go far beyond feminism and negatively influence their child. Fred (Alain Cohen) is single, bedding every lovely woman he encounters, balancing trysts between mornings, afternoons, and evenings and is deeply envied for his Don Juanism. But Fred actually longs for the sense of belonging that married men enjoy.The men's lives intertwine on many levels. Most important, we discover that Vincent has a lover (Angie David) despite his idyllic married life and while it is Georges whom one would expect to seek solace from a lover, he remains faithful to his nagging wife! Gabrielle senses Vincent's affair and encounters a sexy man in a music shop (Johnny Depp) who begins to preoccupy her thoughts. She is a real estate broker and comes close to an assignation with a client but remains faithful. All the while she daydreams about her brief encounter with Depp and satisfies her wandering eye with those memories. Fred discovers that one of his paramours is pregnant and happily decides to leap into the married fray. The only 'adults' sharing advice here are Vincent's long married parents (Anouk Aimée and Claude Berri in very welcome comeback cameos!) and it is this 'standard' that adds the final humor to the film.The manner in which all three men deal with their living situations asks as many questions as it gives answers. Attal finds joy in all forms of coupling and is careful to offer all sides of decisions his characters make in arriving at what provides them happiness. This is a smart movie with terrific twists. There is just enough slapstick (an all out food fight between Vincent and Gabrielle - real life husband and wife team Attal and Gainsbourg - that proves to be one of the fun-loving bits of silliness that binds their marriage) to keep the mood light. Not a profound film, but a joyous French comedy handled by total pros! In French and English with subtitles. Recommended. Grady Harp
writers_reign This is the third film from triple-threat (Writer-Director-Actor) Yvan Attal and arguably his best. Once again he has cast his real-life partner (they have just had a child) Charlotte Gainsbourg as his screen wife and cast fellow triple-threat wda Alain Chabat as his best friend. Whilst Vincent (Attal) and Gabrielle (Gainsbourg) have a seemingly ideal marriage Georges (Chabat) and Nathalie (Emmanuelle Seigner) are more tempestuous and Nathalie's nagging is ever present. Both couples have a child hence the title, They Were Married And Had Many Children, which is also the French equivalent of the fairy-tale ending 'and so they lived happily ever after'. The third man, Fred (Alain Cohen) is single and has no shortage of girls. This is the broad outline. The twist, such as it is requires Fred to envy the married state, Vincent to lead a double life that fools even Georges and Fred and Georges, the logical one to cheat on a nagging wife to be faithful. Most of the five principals are virtually unknown outside France - Chabat appeared in 'Le Gout des Autres', Attal in 'Bon Voyage' - but Anouk Aimee who plays Vincent's mother is certainly known if only for 'A Man And A Woman' whilst Berri, of course, directed 'Jean de Florette' and 'Manon des Sources'. Attal has done a workmanlike job of exploring male bonding - the men spend hours playing football - and precarious relationships and it's the kind of film that can find an audience abroad. 7/10
imriej4566 Once again, Yvan Attal brings us his exploration into temptation. His previous film, 'Ma Femme est une Actress', was a dark comedy about a man paranoid that his actress wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) was being bedded by her leading actors. Gainsbourg returns as Attal's on screen wife for this, his second feature. Infidelity is the main topic of discussion as we follow three friends and their lives, which seem to revolve around sex, or lack thereof. Like a modern update of Yves Robert's 'Pardon Mon Affaire', Attal's use of humor helps placate the true sadness of the storyline.Vincent (Attal) and Georges (Chabat) are both married with a child. Vincent has, what his two friends perceive as, a happy marriage. He has a beautiful wife, Gabrielle, and a playful child. If they argue, it is quickly defused, and life is loving again. George, on the other hand, is constantly arguing with his nagging wife (Seigner), much to the chagrin of the quiet, East Indian neighbors. George is jealous of Fred (Cohen), the swinging bachelor who is constantly juggling a schedule of liaisons with a selection of beautiful women. George would love nothing better than to leave his wife, or at the very least, have an affair. But he doesn't have the guts, and if truth were told, he really does love her. Ironically, it is Fred who is jealous of his friends, as he longs for the commitment in a steady relationship. (WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD)But as we quickly discover, all is not perfect in paradise, as we see Vincent is having an affair unbeknownst to not only his wife, but also his friends. Gabrielle soon has a feeling about her husband's infidelity, but does not confront him, hoping instead that he will work it out of his system. We as the audience hope so too, since Vincent begins to come across as the cad destined to screw things up. There doesn't seem to be a rational reason for his straying, other than perhaps a change of scenery or the sexual excitement of a tryst. As in 'Actrice', we see one partner's paranoia for the other's fidelity. This time, it's the female perspective as Gabrielle, on a holiday with her son, considers the possibility of an affair herself. Thrown into all this is a few interesting cameo appearances – Producer/ Director Claude Berri (Manon Des Sources) and Anouk Aimee (Un homme et une femme) play Vincent's parents, and Johnny Depp, who's dialogue-free encounter with Gainsbourg in a music store is rife with sexual tension and desire.I found the film very enjoyable. Not completely a romantic comedy, but like 'Actrice' Attal reigns in both the humor and the drama to give a balancing act of non-judgmental reality. The soundtrack literally rocks, as Radiohead, Cinematic Orchestra, Cousteau, and the Velvet Underground help get Attal's message across. (Methinks he was a music video director in another life.)Highly recommended. 7/10(Note: The direct translation of the title, 'They Married and Had Lots of Children', differs from the English title '…And They Lived Happily Ever After' given.)