Merveilleux! Another winner from France, about a woman struggling with her relationship with her distant father (just one of the meanings of the English title), it has lots of humor, some pathos, and a great deal of creativity, both visually and in the plot. Mélanie Laurent (last seen in Beginners) is wonderful as Justine Dhrey, the beautiful radiologist who resents her father for seeming not to care about anyone. Michel Blanc (dozens of roles, but not familiar to me) is quite funny as the father, Eli, oblivious to others' feelings.
Directed and written (with collaboration from Romain Lévy, who is cute in his role as Alex, and Cécile Sellam) by Jennifer Devoldère (she is sure to get more work after this), it has everything you want in a movie, including subtitles that will tell you to say joo-steen for Justine and ay-lee for Eli. The literal translation of the French title is "and suddenly I miss everyone," but, as I noted above, the various entendres of the translation serve this well.
Because the Dhrey family is Jewish, this has been making the rounds at American Jewish Film Festivals, and we were lucky enough to see it last week before its opening for a limited run. Be sure to catch it before it leaves. It's great fun.
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