For forty years now, Andre Techine has made films that have delighted me (Les roseaux sauvages, Les voleurs) or annoyed me (Le lieu du crime, Rendez-vous). He seems to be on safe ground when he deals with homosexuality, the need for family ties, and beautiful surroundings (here he can film Venice in all its splendour). He flounders when dealing with straight relationships: what is going on between Dussolier and Bouquet, anyway?-- they seem to be in different films.Carole Bouquet is so splendid to look at that I can forgive almost any deficiency in the script in order to drink in that lovely face. Adriana Asti (Gina in Before the Revolution, the film that moved me more than any other) has the best line: "You turn everybody on but nobody turns you on!" It's so true, you admit ruefully. Melanie Thierry has a small part as Dussolier's daughter and leaves a good impression.

I rented this movie because I have loved every movie by André Téchiné I've ever seen, and I've seen most of them. After I had received the DVD in the mail but right before I watched it (Thank God!) I read several online reviews warning that it contains an appalling depiction of cruelty to an animal - a dog, evidently. I wish I had seen those reviews before I put this movie in my DVD queue; I'm just very grateful that I read them before watching it.ALL animal cruelty depicted in a movie is gratuitous and inexcusable, by the way, and it doesn't matter AT ALL whether the abuse is real or simulated. Whether the animal hurt was alive or a very well-crafted prop doesn't matter to me as a viewer, although those who do hurt real animals for entertainment - and movies are entertainment - deserve to have the same things done to them (and, thank God, again, that's exactly what will happen eventually).Shame on André Téchiné! What he did here is what's Unforgivable. He is one of the greatest modern movie directors, but after this he's off my list forever. Although I just got the DVD, and it's sitting in the player right now, I'll send it back to the rental company unwatched. By an act of superhuman will I am not going to crack the DVD first, but I sure would like to.I have never before written a review of a movie I didn't see or a product I didn't use. I ordinarily disapprove strongly of reviewers who do such things, but this is not an ordinary situation. My personal experience with the movie is less important than spreading the word of the abuse it contains in any way I can.I sincerely thank those earlier reviewers who published the warning, and I now pass it on to the next generation of movie-lovers who are considering this movie and care about animals. If those earlier reviewers were lying, if they have induced me to disparage this movie unfairly, I regret that, but it's a risk I'm willing to take for the sake of the animals and others who genuinely (and not just glibly to make themselves sound good) love animals.To those of you who despise people like me, I say: I couldn't care less what you think. I didn't write this review for you.

Nothing new at the French Horizon. Former player/writer with a writers block passes his time spying on his wife, his ex wife and his daughter. Meanwhile 'shocking' scenes are intended with a little bit of homosexuality for every character, un peu de violence of course, and let's not forget unsettling parent/child dialogues you can always count on. Maybe this is all needed to fill up the rather lengthy runtime.I seriously can not stand another French dragon like this. What is their obsession with homosexuality, sex and sour relationships in their cinema. For me this is the last one. It probably is a hit at the festivals but I can do without it.

Andre Techine is something of a poster boy on the Academic-Pseud circuit and clearly they're going to love this in the Senior Common Room and the BFI Boardroom - expect an article in Sight and Sound any time soon. Clearly it has something very profound to say about something. What exactly? You tell me, naval lint. Very possibly. A middle-aged writer is looking for a quiet retreat; a female estate agent slightly younger (in real life Carole Bouquet is eleven years younger than Andre Dussollier) gives him details of a house a short distance from Venice. He says he'll take it providing she will go and live there with him. She agrees. I know but this is Techine, the darling of the pseuds. His married daughter, who has left her husband to take up with a deadbeat, violent druggie, leaving her own daughter with grandfather, subsequently drops out of sight. The estate agent, who swings both ways, recommends a former lover, ex-private detective, to search for the daughter. The tec is reluctant because she is worried about her low-life son, due out of prison imminently. There's more but do you honestly CARE. Naturally, being Techine he shoots the film on location around Venice but does nothing so crass as offer any 'touristy' scenes of Venice, best leave that to the real filmmakers like David Lean and Visconti, pseuds are above pandering to entertainment. I've given it five out of ten for Dussollier and Bouquet, who deserve something for enduring this drek. Luckily Dussollier went straight from this to work with a real artiste, Ann Fontaine and significantly the film they made together is called My Worst Nightmare.