Jeanne et le garçon formidable (1998)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Directors:

Olivier Ducastel (co-director)
Jacques Martineau (co-director)

Writers:

Olivier Ducastel (writer)
Jacques Martineau (writer)

Release Date:

16 April 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Plot:

Jeanne has an appetite for love that can never be satisfied. Lovers at every corner of her life she is still in search of that "one"...

Plot Keywords:

Love | AIDS | Protest | Homosexual | Death

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Virginie Ledoyen	...	Jeanne
Mathieu Demy	...	Olivier
Jacques Bonnaffé	...	François
Valérie Bonneton	...	Sophie
Frédéric Gorny	...	Jean-Baptiste
Laurent Arcaro	...	The Messenger
Michel Raskine	...	The Plumber
Damien Dodane	...	Jacques
Denis Podalydès	...	Julien
David Saracino	...	Rémi
Nelly Borgeaud	...	La mère de Jeanne
René Morard	...	Le père de Jeanne
Jean-Marc Rouleau	...	L'ami d'Olivier
Sylvain Prunenec	...	Jérôme
Emmanuelle Goizé	...	The Bookseller
Marief Guittier	...	The Nurse
Judith Guittier	...	The BDE Lady
Christiane Millet	...	The Night Nurse
Cédric Brenner	...	The BDE Guy
Nicolas Seguy	...	Edouard
Johanna Menuteau	...	Nathalie
Axelle Laffont	...	Hélène
Grégory Sauvion	...	Richard
Linh Bui My	...	Self Maid
Juliette Chanaud	...	Cinema Cashier
Philippe Mangeot	...	Act Up Militant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Elise Caron	...	Jeanne (singing voice)
Olivier Nicklaus	...	Militant
Brigitte Tijou

Directed by
Olivier Ducastel		(co-director)
Jacques Martineau		(co-director)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Olivier Ducastel		writer
Jacques Martineau		writer

Produced by
Cyriac Auriol	....	producer
Pauline Duhault	....	producer
Eric Zaouali	....	line producer

Original Music by
Philippe Miller

Cinematography by
Matthieu Poirot-Delpech

Film Editing by
Sabine Mamou

Casting by
Antoinette Boulat

Production Design by
Louis Soubrier

Costume Design by
Juliette Chanaud

Makeup Department
Joël Lavau	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Nicolas Conti	....	unit production manager
Jean des Forêts	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nicolas Cambois	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Laurent Baude	....	assistant art director
Sandrine Jarron	....	art department

Sound Department
Jean-Jacques Ferran	....	sound
Jean-Pierre Laforce	....	sound mixer
Waldir Xavier	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Claire Caroff	....	focus puller
Nicolas Pernot	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Annick Raoul	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Sandrine Brauer	....	production assistant
Sylvie Giron	....	choreographer
Isabelle Le Grix	....	script supervisor

Thanks
Agnès Varda	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Canal+
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)
• Les Films du Requin
• M6 Films
• Oraune
• Procirep

Distributors

• Alcine Terran (Japan) (theatrical)
• Orsans
• Strand Releasing (1999) (USA) (subtitled)

Also Known As:

Jeanne and the Perfect Guy (USA)
Jeanne y el chico formidable (Spain) [es]
Jeanne y el hombre perfecto (Venezuela) [es]

Runtime:

98 min | Taiwan:94 min | USA:105 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

France:U | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Canal+

Movie Connections:

References Saturday Night Fever (1977)

love and only love...

With "Jeanne and the perfect guy" (1998), we can be grateful to the duo Olivier Ducastel/Jacques Martineau for a thing: having lent credibility again to French musical. A cinematographic genre whose golden age was in the sixties but which had somewhat sunk into oblivion at the end of the twentieth century.

It is the story of Jeanne (Virginie Ledoyen) who works as a receptionist in a travel agency. She lives a simple life and waits for the love of her life. She is persuaded that she found him with Olivier who also shows love for her. But he disappears overnight. He has his reasons: he is HIV positive. But Jeanne persists. She absolutely wants to spend her life with him. Given that Olivier is HIV positive and his days are numbered, it is probably Jeanne who is right.

We can see it: the film-makers have chosen a delicate and bleak topic. However, we couldn't attribute the two quoted topics to the presented treatment. Indeed, Ducastel and Martineau's work is bursting with joy of living and loving. It contains ravishing songs which often come out of the blue but they integrate well into the plot. There's also a luminous photography with sparkling colors, a light making. In the content and form, it is a beautiful tribute to Jacques Demy's universe that the two authors offer us. Besides, Olivier's role is held by the latter's son: Matthieu Demy.

The problem of AIDS is tackled without sentimentality and the film-makers avoid useless pathos. They also succeed in creating emotion in front of Matthieu's life broken by this terrible disease.

As for Virginie Ledoyen, she confirms all the good we can think of her. With all that's been previously said, we can conclude by saying that "Jeanne and the perfect guy" is a light and shiny movie which enables to believe in love and in happiness. It would also reconcile anyone with life. The two authors have surely been satisfied with the result because they won't hesitate to use a second time, their magic system: pessimist topic/optimist treatment for their next movie: "Drôle de Félix" (2000). For this film, AIDS will still be at the background but musical will have given ground to the road-movie. Of course, this movie will reach the same goal as "Jeanne": to believe in love and happiness.