Judiciously strewing the love trajectory with pitfalls before the sentimental apotheosis remains one of the main principles of romantic comedy: you just have to find the right obstacles.
Pascal Elbé unfortunately did not look very far, suffering from hearing difficulties himself – a playmate mumbling his lines put him, as they say, in the ear -, which of course causes some misunderstandings, sometimes comical, in his entourage. From this slight handicap, the actor (Braille heart, Father and son) and filmmaker (I count on you, Turkish head) drew film material, but not a pretext for self-pity, wanting to win a few smiles in We are made for each other. The title says a lot about the optimism he wants to instill in this story of bad neighbors, dislocated families and, of course, psychological isolation when the ambient noises are silent or sound like explosions.
It is little by little the world of silence that Antoine explores (Elbé without artifice or brilliance), a history teacher who does not perceive the nonsense of his students, or that of his colleagues, including one played by the good-natured François Berléand. . Things get tough when her neighbor, Claire (Sandrine Kiberlain, the beating heart of the story), violently shows her impatience with the excessive sounds emanating from her apartment. He doesn’t see the problem… and barely hears it. Just as he hears very little of the nightmares of little Violette (Monique Lemoine), Claire’s daughter, still traumatized by the death of her father in circumstances that do not help her mother to keep a good memory of it, hence his foul mood in all circumstances.
The misunderstandings caused by this deaf person who prefers to ignore himself will amplify his personal and professional problems, also exacerbating his neighborly relations until Violette, taking refuge in a deep silence, finds in her misanthropic neighbor a comforting shoulder. The benefits will be subtle at first, and will eventually intrigue Claire, who will lower the tone of her recriminations while Antoine somehow tames his hearing aids. And a new way of looking at the little din of his hectic world.
We are made for each other addresses substantially the same psychological issues as the powerful Sound of Metal, by Darius Marder, way of the cross of a musician forced to mourn heavy metal for the deafening metallic noise of cochlear implants. With Pascal Elbé, the medical dimension is not so tragic, because he likes to describe a cozy social environment, but not sheltered from the pangs of widowhood, old age and family conflicts, the marvelous Marthe Villalonga serving here a grieving mother and a catalyst for conflict between Antoine and his sister (Emmanuelle Devos).
Like her rarely flamboyant acting, Elbé signs a work charged with good feelings, sometimes ironic (Kiberlain’s task, and she does it very well), most often smooth, advocating more the virtues of love. than that of early detection of certain health concerns. In everyday life, it is of great necessity; in a romantic comedy, we prefer to delay the inevitable so as not to stop the mechanics of the genre. It is clearly visible here, without roughness, without big false notes, all on a tune too well known.