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A film really has to be exceptional to justify a three hour running time, and this isn't.
The director, Olivier Assayas, seems to think that he needs three hours to cover three decades, but even though a fair amount happens over that time, the story manages to feel slow and the random jumps in time can leave you a little confused until your own clock catches up with the film's.
"Les Destinées Sentimentales" tells the story of Protestant minister Jean (Berling), whose marriage to Nathalie (Huppert) is already falling apart when he meets the niece of a parishioner, Pauline (Béart), at a ball in his small village in western France.
To escape the disapproval of his conservative community, Jean quits the clergy and sets up home with Pauline in Switzerland. But years later, when his uncle dies, he is called to Limoges to take over his family's porcelain empire.
Strikes, family rivalries, and the First World War conspire to stop his life running smoothly. And here lies the problem. We follow Jean for three decades and it's all misery, despair, and unhappiness.
OK, so he has a lot to be unhappy about - what with a broken marriage, a crumbling business, and the Great War. However, as well as the hard times, good things happen to most people too. But over such a long period of time, apart from his relationship with Pauline, the only positive thing that happens to Jean is that he manages to design a nice new dinner service.
Naturally for a French epic, it's beautifully shot, the production design is sumptuous, and the performances are exemplary. But devoid of emotion, excitement, or an interesting plot, this would be hard-going even in your own language. There's just not enough there to warrant three hours of reading subtitles.
