Orchestra Seats (2006)

33 out of 34 people found the following review helpful:

french favorite

A Customer from scotland, 20th June, 2007

Although this was a french film with subtitles it had an excellent story line to it. A young girl finding new experiences and mixing with the theatrical famous with 3 seperate parts all coming to a conclusion involving the girl and the grandmother who's stories start the ball rolling. This is a good film but you need to watch it by yourself and read all the subtitles to fully understand the plot. Great.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review helpful:

Undemanding fluff

Rehan from , 5th December, 2007

Take a French travel commercial or, say, the Renault Clio (Papa? Nicole?) ad, throw in a few promos for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and the Hôtel Drouot, people it with bog-standard rom-com characters and a wide-eyed, winsome leggy actress, to a soundtrack that includes, of course, Beethoven and (I'm not joking) accordion music, and you have this essentially pointless bit of cultural-cliché 'entertainment.' It's not truly abysmal, but it's about as satisfying as a TV ad for Boursin.

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8 out of 8 people found the following review helpful:

A parisian fantasy

A Customer from Eastbourne, England, 25th June, 2007

Faintly reminiscent of Amelie, but on a different social level. Good performances by all. I loved the radiant little lady who played the grandmother. I wallowed in the 'Frenchness' of it all. How I wish there were more like this.

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8 out of 11 people found the following review helpful:

Poor...

Steve Jansen from UK, 8th August, 2007

Whilst Orchestra Seats is obviously good natured and aims to be sweet and feelgood, I found this to be unfocused, poorly structured, averagely acted, and ultimately a bit dull. So much so, that I feel like the best thing going for it was that it was in French, and therefore an initial curiosity... But nothing more. I'm rarely disappointed by many European movies, as the ones that travel generally have something to warrant the interest, but this one I feel may be a triumph of marketing over content. The central female character is obviously there to provide a focal point, around which all of the storylines and characters weave. The idea being that each and everyone featured must learn a lesson to return to the lives they've lost any love for. However, the key problem is that it all feels so obvious, and fails to present any believable jeopady to face, or real challenges to overcome. The characters are pitched as stereotypes operating at a level akin to farce, which I found just too anachronistic, hindering me from caring enough about any of them. And the central lead, who is supposed to be affecting all of these people for the better is so weak, and two-dimensional, that the events she's navigated through become increasingly contrived, and clunky. I'd go as far to say that she's so ineffectual and poorly developed and presented, that she ends up being nothing more than a pretty macguffin in this slight, and forgettable movie... In the end, I remained unengaged, and unconvinced that anyone had seriously experienced anything of any note. And seeing as that's the point of this movie, I'd have to say this isn't good. Shame, really, the heart is there and the colours are vivid, it just lacks blood...

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4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Pacey French farce.

Nitaray from , 1st May, 2010

A cleverly constructed little ensemble piece about a group of unrelated people who frequent a Parisian theatre bar and whose lives eventually intermingle with interesting results. It is here that a young girl talks herself into a job as waitress. Sidney Pollock is a surprise, in the role of theatrical producer,searching for the perfect actress to play the lead role in his new play about Simone de Beauvoir;a famous female soap star languishes over her coffee, dreaming of a serious role in the theatre ;.a famous concert pianist is tired of his life and has a breakdown; an art collector loses his wife, finds a bimbo and puts up his entire collection for auction. There is indeed never a dull moment in the Bar des Theatre. The action is pacey, but the subtitles are excellent, allowing plenty of time to read them while absorbing the action. Excellent.

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delightful mosaic

maddox from , 25th April, 2010

this film is a stylish collage featuring a range of artistic people interacting at pivotal moments where they are deciding about the direction of the rest of their lives. Paris is the romantic backdrop of these stories which weave around each other, at first overheard and then joined by Jessica the cute out of town waitress who is following her grandmas dreams of mixing with the rich and famous. Sydney Pollack in effect plays himself, which brings a suprising realism to the charming fables. A feast of music,art,and architecture, and a feel good ending.

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Orchestra Seats

venezuela from , 28th March, 2010

Well this film did not impact my life in any way hence the low rating. It is one of those types of films that goes over your head and you forget about it a couple of weeks later. And that is exactly what I have done! The rating is because i do recall the acting was quite good.

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Les Contes des Fées

Stephen from North Cornelly, South Wales, 30th January, 2010

It would be really interesting to compare and contrast this against ‘Notting Hill’ and ‘Maid in Manhattan’ and show how the presuppositions of the three societies reflect what is taken as fluffy ‘chick-lit’ but in actual fact constitute fairytales for grown up girls. Parisian society is portrayed as free of the easy ‘victimhood’ of the Spanish speaking single mother heroine and the nonsense that the Class system will set you free holds no place amongst the fauteuils d'orchestre. Here we simply have a good old fashioned battle of the sexes – as the three male leads and the three female leads decamp to alcohol and introspection before the beau and the belle finally get together. They are all here Cécile De France makes a lovely Cinderella – Buttons is played by François Rollin and the Ugly Sisters by Valérie Lemercier and Danielle Graule ably supported by the fairy godmother an engaging Suzanne Flon. Best of all, however, was there ever a more striking Wicked Step Mother than Annelise Hesme!!!

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