StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

simona gianotti French cinema distinguishes itself, and let's admit, sometimes annoys because of excessive intellectualism and philosophical commitment, but often stands out for products like Odette Toulemonde, having no pretence of intellectualism, but being just enjoyable, naif, and truly lovely. The overall atmosphere is one of being out of reality (although some prosaic hints are to be found, for example in the difficulty of a single-mother to raise her children, in a context of material difficulties), of having one's head in the clouds, never wanting to come down to the earth, of living in a kind of space-time suspension, pervaded by the, maybe, too easily optimistic trust that everything will work out, in the end.To be honest, some interesting messages are not to be understated: don't take yourself too seriously, happiness will come when you really believe in it and are ready to accept it, it is your attitude to life that makes things good or bad, and not vice versa. Not to mention that irrational miracle which is reading, that sound and deep communion created by the writer between the reader and the fiction, capable of shifting us away from reality and moving us to another, unreal but more emotionally authentic world.But what really gets the viewer is the delicate and odd character of Odette, naif but intelligent enough to understand that life is a miracle to be tasted and enjoyed and that there's no point in persisting in feeling pessimistic: just smile and life will smile at you.

David Traversa I read all the previous commentaries about this film, to see if I was alone in loving it as much as I did, and with pleasure can see that save one (out of seven) they all loved it. Maybe I have the same mentality of this low class department store clerk, that is able to levitate when she experiences supreme happiness.Why not. As they show it in the movie, not only high brow literature can give you high pleasure. Some trash once in a while can be truly satisfying indeed. And being a great fan of Almodovar movies, this one gets quite close to his trashy school of philosophy. I loved it. I loved everything about this movie.The main couple is so charming one would like to embrace them and tell them: I love you! This is the kind of fantasy movie that I would place next to "Miss Potter", "El laberinto del fauno" and "Les paraplues de Cherbourg", to me, masterpieces of their genre.The musical numbers are delightful because apparently "house made" they seem spontaneous and very casual. They just happened as one would start dancing and singing at home because on the radio they started playing our favorite song.I would recommend it to anybody of any age. This one should be called "La vie en rose"! And now I can see why Josephine Baker was so successful in France as a singer. She was a very light soprano (the perfect voice for Snow White --no pun intended), but her rendition of these songs are simply delightful, after so many years, and as a bonus, they give you and incredible pang of nostalgia!!

groggo Catherine Frot is a sweet-faced, sprightly French actress who looks a decade younger than her 52 years. She's also sexy in her inimitable way, and she's always watchable and versatile (she often plays confused, if not ditzy, characters, but she can turn on the drama too; see The Page Turner).Frot has a tendency to carry any film she's in. She's one of those few actors who just lights up the screen. Alas, when the camera's not on her, borderline 'good' films like this one suddenly lose a great deal of appeal. In short, if Frot weren't in this film, I'm not sure how redeemable it would be. Frot plays Odette Toulemonde (loose translation: 'Odette Everyone/Everywhere'), a cheerful, unworldly, dreamy sales clerk who loves the sappy books of author Balthazar Balsan (Albert Dupontel, who in real life is 10 years younger than Frot). Odette writes Balthazar a letter that, in her simple way, is profound, and inspires the writer, a sophisticated, womanizing Parisian who quotes Proust, to uproot himself and suddenly appear at Odette's house in a small Belgian town. This internationally famous writer begs to stay with her. This is all highly implausible of course, but 'Odette' is a fantasy film more than anything else, so plausibility is a non-issue. This has been called 'a feel-good' film. That might be true, but it also strains credulity to make us feel 'good'. Noticeably, after a promising first half, it begins to bog down in the second, showing its deficiencies by becoming frequently boring and clichéd (e.g. the all-too-familiar sullen, alienated daughter and the upbeat gay son). The film doesn't quite know where its focus is supposed to be. But if you're an incurable romantic, you might well overlook its flaws and love it. For me, it was worth watching just to see Catherine Frot scale the heights and conquer once more.

writers_reign Erich Emmanuel Schmitt is best known for adapting other people's work for both stage and screen rather than for Original Screenplays so an Original for his directorial debut is something of a rarity. As it happens I saw one of his most recent adaptations on the Paris stage when he took Noel Cowards 'Private Lives' and 'adapted' it to within an inch of its life so much so that what Coward wrote as a duet plus two thankless supporting roles emerged at the pen of Schmitt as a full-blown quartet. Armed with this information I had mixed feelings about Odette toulemonde even though he had obviously hedged his bets bu casting Catherine Frot in the lead. When she puts her mind to it no one can do Adorable like Frot (see Un Air de famille or Les Soeurs fachees) just as when she puts her mind to it no one can do Evil like Frot (see Vipere au poing) in short she's one of the best in the business: were she to read this fulsome praise she may have trouble keeping her feet on the ground which is precisely her problem as Odette; she is prone to levitating at odd moments from sheer joie de vivre though it may help if, as she does, you know a guy who resembles Jesus Christ, thinks nothing of walking on water and when last seen was walking up a hill carrying on his shoulders a large block of wood. A mother with teenage children but no husband Odette is ripe for romance and finds it via best selling novelist Albert Dupontel, as unhappy in this branch of the Arts as he was when he played a concert pianist for Daniel Thompson in Fauteuils d'orchestre. With actors like Frot and Dupontel - and Frot lip-synching Josephine Baker for good measure - you have to work at it to turn out something from the Kennel Club and Schmitt pulls off a hugely entertaining debut.