5 to 7 (2014)

5 to 7 (2014)

Oh, right, this drip of a leading male glances across the street and sees a gorgeous girl and he wanders over and it turns out she's just possibly open to having an affair with him, but only from 5 to 7 each weekday because, you realize, she's married.

The movie takes this all quite seriously in a slightly stylized version of a Linklater film, filled with ordinary conversation as we get to know these two leads. This puts a lot of pressure on the writing, which is weak—the dialog is stilted and the overall narrative idea is stale.

The addition of older (better) actors later (Close and Langella) is of course helpful, but I still find the plot forced. I mean, an open marriage is an old and fertile idea for movies and literature (and life). But it can't just be laid out as if we've never encountered it before.

Can we say this is all artfully on purpose? That it's a style to appear a little lame all along, not reaching too high, making it ordinary? Maybe, but not here, not for me. A miserable experience.

Fmovies: When I decided to see this movie I was aware that it played a little bit on stereotypes. American vs. French culture, clumsy writer vs. ex-model trophy wife and so forth. Boy was I in for a surprise!

The script of this movie is a feat of creative writing. It proves that yes, you can actually write a movie script where every single line spoken is a cliché and where every single character is a superficial caricature. The clumsy writer says all the things "clumsy writers" say. The beautiful French adulteress responds with everything that we would expect from a "French adulteress". They have an affair, but everybody is cool with it because this is how they do it "in France". You get the picture.

The screenwriter evidently thought that his little gem could find itself in no better hands than his own, so he decided to also direct the movie. This leaves us with the added bonus of visual clichés in addition to the linguistic ones. Look, when an actress behaves all the time like she's some kind of Venus walking on earth, it's not sexy or sensual, it's just cheesy and banal. And yes, you dear director, I think it's your fault that she does it like that.

The movie could have been promoted from a sad parody to a watchable run-of-the-mill romantic comedy if the actors had helped it a bit. But no, the actors are not really acting, just reading the miserable script. So, sad parody it will be.

My advice is save your precious time for something better. This is just a pretentious trashy movie that thinks of itself that since it has a "French" theme it must definitely be full of high culture and refinement. No, sorry, it just doesn't work like that.

Being French there's something I had to ask myself as soon as the film started? How is it that in so many movies French women are always depicted as the super-wise, cold but sensitive, I always know it all, i always have an answer type? I find that stereotype utterly annoying.

Every bit of this movie felt so fake and forced. I did not believe a single sentence of what I was listening in the movie. The script writer should have brought the dialogues down a notch cause even if the protagonist is a writer and the woman he likes seems cultivated, the conversations they hold are plain inhuman. No one, I repeat no one talks like that!

This movie irritated me enormously! I just want to get finished with this review to forget about it forever! The only thing good about it was the title, and the history of couple getting to know each other form 5 to 7pm. After that, everything is downhill with no brakes.

5 to 7 fmovies. This is a movie that slowly inexorably creeps up on you. All of a sudden you are seeing a wonderful story, carefully crafted and acted. I am stunned that 5 to 7 has been seen by so few people. I rarely rate a movie a 10. But his clearly deserved that and perhaps and another star.

If you watch 5 to 7 (and you should), keep an open mind for the first 10-12 minutes. Do not expect a simple romantic comedy, nor all the clichés that come with that genre. Rather you will be watching literature. Anton Yelchin deserved, no less, than an academy award nomination. And French actress Berenice Marlohe deserved an Academy Award. They are so overpowering in their roles that you will forget that a great actress, Glen Close, and a great actor Frank Langella have roles.

10-stars. Bravo!!!!

Utterly charming throwback to the French New Wave. While the title refers to Agnes Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7, the plot feels a bit more like Rohmer's Chloe in the Afternoon, and Truffaut's Jules and Jim is featured prominently in the film itself. As it moves on, it switches from a more intellectual French view of romance into a more passionate American view of it. Despite becoming more conventional, it works well thematically with the clash of French and American values. The film follows a 20-something writer in New York City (Anton Yelchin, still feeling a bit forced with an American accent) who falls for a married French woman (Berenice Marlohe). He doesn't want to be a homewrecker, but she insists that this is perfectly normal in her culture and that her husband (Lambert Wilson) has his own mistress (who will appear later and be played by Olivia Thirlby). It just has to be kept casual, and between 5 and 7, which is like the understood times these things are done. The relationship blossoms and Yelchin soon even becomes part of the family. As a young American, though, Yelchin's love grows too big and he hopes to make more of it than just an affair. This is a remarkably charming little film, and a surprisingly romantic one. It may not be that surprising, but it's quite good. Glenn Close and Frank Langella also co-star as Yelchin's parents.

5 to 7 is a smart, endearing, and entertaining film, well interpreted and, while in the course of deftly playing off cultural stereotypes, resonantly manifesting significant character development.

The plot revolves around a romance with repercussions that demonstrate a significant gap between American and French social mores. That very gap becomes the stage for the film's comic zone, where the protagonist and his parents manifest the angst that generates its constant chuckles and a few really good belly-laughs.

The film fits squarely into the Uptown New York awkwardness-generates-witty-repartee pattern that has been so well established by Woody Allen and followed by Whit Stillman. Well crafted dialogue delivered convincingly.

Anton Yelchin turns in a compelling performance as the protagonist, Brian. He interprets a highly endearing character: sensitive, intelligent, thoughtful, driven and respectful. He and each of the principle characters display commendable characteristics that make them all highly likable.

Bérénice Marlohe glows with exuberant kindness and empathy. Lambert Wilson, expertly portraying that which Americans find both typical and impenetrable of the (particularly aristocratic) French, reveals therein universally-recognizable and enviable grace and integrity. The audience at the Miami Jewish Film Festival howled with laughter as Glenn Close and Frank Langella, playing Brian's parents, masterfully interpreted the Jewish martyr-mother and stubborn father, respectively.

Victor Levin's directorial sensitivity enticed each of these actors to interpret stereotypic portrayals in a loving manner, to great comic and dramatic effect. Levin walks the line perfectly without offense. The characters are not caricatures: they are quintessential and highly endearing and human incorporations of their representative communities.

As the plot unfolds, Brian becomes a study in character development. He learns, on all planes, the value of dedication, sacrifice, and a good underlying moral compass. The story is accessible and compelling. It speaks to serendipity and the extent to which life is a sum of our experiences, most markedly seen in relationships. I found a very resonant message that these relationships are best savored with sensitivity to their context and they always be remembered with sweetness. Ain't that the truth!