Tanguy (2001)

I really don't understand the bad ratings. Maybe a lot of the guys who voted like this see themselves in a similar situation? I think they just can't understand the parents. I watched the film with my parents and I am about ... well lets just say, there fits a lot. ^^ And watching this film was so intense. The characters are perfect. The successful father, who gets jealous; the mother pretending to everybody what a perfect family they are; the son - a single child - who enjoys giving away the ordinary responsibility. When the film begins they are still threatening him like there little boy. They are convincing or ignoring that he isn't any longer the little 14 year old boy. And a wonderful escalation begins.

My favourite scene (doesn't spoiler): I just say one word - navy uniform.

Amazing film.

Fmovies: Enjoyable French comedy with funny scenario and inspiring cast. In a way, it reminds me Danny De Vito's "The war of the roses": how a simple idea (there, a case of divorce; here, dad and mom wanting to get rid of his 28 year old son) can be handled with such a black sense of humor, mixing fun and fierce satire at the same time. Unfortunately (and without giving much away), "Tanguy" resents a little from his length and refuses to go further on his almost surreal developed premise taking a kind and conformist turn in the end. Nevertheless, it's much more than entertainment: you'll be amused and will think about its subject after leaving the cinema.

Etienne Chatiliez made three excellent films about families thrown into turmoil by the arrival of outsiders: Life is a Long Quiet River, Tatie Danielle and Happiness Is in the Field. In each of these, the idea was worked out beautifully until the end; the director was fully in possession of his talent. Alas, Tanguy just isn't in this class.

It starts off well; we are set up with the domestic discontent of a middle-aged couple whose son can't quite get on the career track. The endless dissertation, the plan to move to Beijing that doesn't firm up: we know all these quirks. After Tanguy's first trip to the hospital (Dad smacks him with a tennis ball) Chatiliez seems to go on auto-pilot for the rest of the picture. It's as if there wasn't enough inspiration to carry him through to the end. Sabine Azema and Andre Dussolier are superb as the parents; Azema has this wonderful attack of gas whenever she's flustered by her son, and that's many times. My rating is a compromise; 9 for the first hour, 3 for the rest.

Tanguy fmovies. I watched this movie with so much hope! Dussollier, Azéma, beautiful Aurore Clément (from "Demain on déménage (2004)"), J. P. Rouve and many others, like always charming Delphine Serina (Avocats + associés) and a topic I am fond of paved the way for a killer Saturday night movie. I suppose that if you dislike the "philosophical grounds" of a movie, it's hard, almost impossible for it to work for you. I felt the parents were almost farcical from the start, when they "enjoyed themselves" when his adult only son wasn't with them at home, they basically did go out (something they could easily do with him still at home). In short, I found the kid too polite, peaceful and loving to be really hated. OK, he had some sort of "Peter Pan syndrome", and it's true he seemed to be all too comfortable at his parent's, but ... I just thought their (parent's) house was too posh and big, their reactions too violent (hiring thugs to kick your son out, wanting him dead when hearing there was a plane crash, teared apart his shirts etc., and erratic (Edith was suddenly loving and repentant until she found out her son wasn't actually dead, so was she when his son started suffering panic attacks, but not later). Tanguy is too perfect, if nerdy and unfaithful to his beautiful girlfriend. And probably too successful with (very beautiful on average) women he beds as effortlessly as we could say: "sneeze". Maybe that's French intellectual's prerogative, who knows :). His "rich and dumb" American clients are a big cliché that works.

Everyone will have his/ her favourite scene. Mine are Paul's fits of anger: Tu te casses!! (=Get away!) and when Tanguy argues on the phone with her mum until he grabs the phone and yells: "Stop the crap" in worse and thus very convincing, terms.

I think the film was illogical, and the 2nd part was actually awful. Watch without any expectation and you might be amused.

Tanguy made me laugh even though my understanding of French is far from perfect. The plot is simple - life in his parents Paris apartment is so pleasant Tanguy a post grad student is still there at 28 years old but his parents secretly want him out!

Sabine Azema (Tanguys mother) was so funny that she really made the film for me. Don't miss it if you like to laugh!

'Tanguy' is a nice French comedy, although it does not start that funny. It tells about a 28-year old guy named Tanguy (Eric Berger) who still lives with his parents. At first everything seems normal, but we slowly learn that especially his mother Edith (Sabine Azéma) wants him out of there. His father Paul (André Dussloier) basically wants the same thing, but at any cost. Tanguy himself has not a clue. Here the movie becomes funnier. The parents decide to make their house a terrible place for Tanguy; he must get annoyed of the place. Things do not work out as planned and slowly Paul becomes more and more upset with his son, especially after Tanguy has tried living on his own for a couple of days.

The story becomes darker and therefore funnier. Tanguy seems a lovable person at first but slowly we come to understand the parents. His mother is truly a nice person, but too nice when Tanguy is around. Instead of being honest with him she constantly makes sure Tanguy does not want to move away. When the father starts losing it the best parts of 'Tanguy' arrive. It is too bad that the movie is already playing for an hour and a half; this is where conclusions should have been made.

Another complaint I have is the save turn the movie takes near the end. Since both parents really started hating their son, certain other events help you understand why, you wish the screenplay kept following that path. The happy ending could have been the parents being really happy, butt the turn here is even saver. Not that it's really a big deal, I enjoyed everything that leads up to the ending. Not great, but certainly entertaining.