Love Songs

2007 Musical

Though Love Songs (aka Les Chansons d'Amour) is not a film operetta per se, director Christophe Honoré and composer/lyricist/vocalist Alex Beaupain use that film to pay homage to the French movie musical as conceived by Jacques Demy in his classic Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1967). The Honoré film concerns a series of hopelessly romantic Parisian characters who are unable to convey their feelings to one another in everyday situations, and who thus use musical numbers as outlets -- as vehicles of emotional expression. Beaupain composed the score; a number of the songs that are included appeared on one of his solo albums. The individual stories covered in the film tell age-worn tales as old as time: the loss of love, the discovery of new love, the impossibility of mutual love. The film stars Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni, Clotilde Hesme, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Brigitte Roüan, Jean-Marie Winling, and Yannick Renier. more..

Director: Christophe Honoré

Starring: Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni, Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet, Brigitte Roüan

Reviews

  • The result is a bittersweet trifle one can conceivably fall in love with, and Honore's best film so far.

    Ken Fox - TV Guide

    19 January 2013

  • Chiara Mastroianni charms here just as her maman, Catherine Deneuve, did in Demy's 1964 classic.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    19 January 2013

  • You could describe Love Songs, as a blend of François Truffaut's wistful Parisian sentimentalism and Pedro Almodóvar's acrid polysexual comedy, which were never far apart to begin with (given the difference in climate and native temperament between France and Spain).

    Andrew O'Hehir - Salon.com

    19 January 2013

  • A surprisingly joyous musical.

    - The San Francisco Chronicle

    19 January 2013

  • Sings in the key of life.

    Wesley Morris - The Boston Globe

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Christophe Honoré

    Cabourg Romantic Film Festival (2007)

  • Christophe Honoré

    Cannes Film Festival (2007)

     
  • Buried Treasure

    Chlotrudis Awards (2009)

     
  • Best Music Written for a Film (Meilleure musique écrite pour un film)

    César Awards, France (2008)

  • Best Foreign Romance Trailer

    Golden Trailer Awards (2008)