I've seen this movie three times and I'm sure that in a year or two I will get the DVD out again. This story of two lovers, Antoine and Mathilde, has a magical quality, a charm, wit, and innocence that draw the viewer in even though objectively the plot line is completely unrealistic. It's probably the sexiest film I've ever seen, even though there is no nudity and there are no sex scenes. Leconte perfectly captures the emotional power women can have over men and the joy of submitting to it.(By the way I didn't notice until the second viewing of this film that there are several clues that Antoine' s father was having an affair with the voluptuous hairdresser who Antoine became imprinted on as a child. This is finally confirmed for me by the brisk comment that his father promptly died of a heart attack when told his son was marrying a hairdresser. See what you think. ) The film is very French, you can't predict how the plot will evolve and along the way there are little comments on relationships, parenthood and the problem of explaining our existence. For me the most wonderful thing of all is the repeated theme of the North African music which Antoine dances to in a bizarre attempt to connect with sensuality and mystery. The final scene must be one of the most poignant moments in film history.

Already more than 10 years since I have seen this movie the first time. And I still think it is one of the best ones... great actors (Jean Rochefort will make you laugh, Anna Galiena is superb and attractive as ever), excellent story who does not need to have a real happy end ... one of the big differences from the usual Hollywood trash. For me one of the big success of French cinema - although this film is not such a well known one... ... together with "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" (2001) the two French movies in my Top 10 collection! .

This is another romantic/drama that only the French seem to know how to make. The key to these films isn't necessarily the story but the casting and its hard not to like a film that has Jean Rochefort. This is a story about a man named Antoine (Rochefort) who has always dreamed of marrying a hairdresser. The film starts with Antoine at the age of 12 and we see him constantly going to get his hair cut by the local hairdresser who is a widow and very bosomy. She dies unexpectedly and Antoine spends the next 40 years searching for another one that he can try and marry. Now he's 52 and he meets Mathilde (Anna Galiena) who is the new owner of a shop and during his first haircut with her he blurts out "Will you marry me"? She ignores him but three weeks later he returns and she says "Yes". They get married and seem perfectly suited to one another. They rarely go out and don't seem to have much contact with the outside world. Mathilde gets depressed by listening to her clients problems and she is under the assumption that one day they're love will end.*****SPOILER ALERT*****One day it starts to pour down rain and they make passionate love. Mathilde gets up and says she is going out for yogurt but she never returns. She ends up jumping into the ocean and drowning herself. Later Antoine finds a note that says she didn't want to go through the experience of not being in love anymore. Some have regarded this as one of Patrice Leconte's finest films but I have to think that "The Man On The Train" is certainly better and a lot more interesting. But this is a romantic fable that for the most part works. The best thing about this film are the two leads of Rochefort and Galiena. Rochefort is perfectly charming as the whimsy Antoine who spent nearly his entire life searching for the perfect hairdresser. And Galiena is of course beautiful and even though the gap in their age is noticeable we can still understand why she would find him enchanting. But this is far from being a classic and the films faults lie in the lack of character development. Who is Antoine and why doesn't he work? And why would a beautiful woman like Mathilde be such a shut-in? She says she has no photo's of herself when she was younger but we never find out why. Leconte is content to just have these two get together and allow the viewer to witness their romantic life. The film ends on a very sad note and it has Antoine telling a customer that the hairdresser will be right back. Antoine has spent his life finding her and he's not about to give her up. Even though the story has many incomplete plotlines the film does work effectively as a romantic fable.

"The Hairdresser's Husband" shows a boy enraptured by his buxom female barber and then again as a middle-aged man who proposes to a beautiful barber during his first visit to her salon. The film goes on from there bathing itself in the couple's mutual gratification and the man's peculiar predilection for Eastern dancing while wandering ambiguously and playing out thematically with precious little story to be found. All in all, the film seems to be a testament to one man's obsession though it could well have been a boy's fantasy or the man's boyish imaginings. Not clear of purpose, this flick is simply beautiful and fun hedonism with narrow appeal from the less-is-more school of film making. Only for those into fatalistic French films and other artsy stuff. (B)