Antoine, in his fifties, discovers that he has lost a lot of hearing. Not assuming his handicap, this history teacher has resigned himself to living in his bubble, even if it means causing misunderstanding among those around him. His meeting with Claire, widow and mother of a mute little girl, will push him to open up to the world.
Posted at 11:30 a.m.
In the ears of Antoine (Pascal Elbé), “button” becomes “sheep”, sun becomes “sleep” and the General of France becomes General de Gaulle. You will have understood it, the protagonist ofWe are made for each othera 50-year-old history teacher, is losing his hearing. And it is those around him who pay the price. Her new neighbor Claire (Sandrine Kiberlain) is tired of hearing her alarm clock ringing, her students demand more attention from her and her companion no longer tolerates her lack of listening.
Suffering from deafness himself, the director, who also plays the title role, kindly pokes fun at this handicap in a story that is reminiscent of that ofUntouchables. Unfortunately, this film is less successful than that of Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, which has become cult in the Francophonie.
This romantic comedy hardly strays from the narrow furrow of its cinematic genre. And the potential of the subject is spoiled by a heavy redundancy of clichés. We are made for each other falls into the trap of situational comedy, making excessive use of misunderstandings to underline in broad strokes the vagaries of deafness.
The evocative soundtrack – we accompany Antoine to the hollow of his eardrums – also ends up boring. Pascal Elbé took the gamble of modulating the noises of his film in order to better understand what Antoine hears, which very quickly becomes unbearable. The height of irony: it makes you wonder if it could not bother people with fragile hearing…
Well-finished replies, carried by the talented cast with which the actor-director has surrounded himself (Sandrine Kiberlain, François Berléand, Emmanuelle Devos and Valérie Donzelli), still manage to elicit a laugh from us from time to time. And the autobiographical nature of the story, a guarantee of sensitivity, will undoubtedly appeal to those who are struggling, like Antoine, with hearing problems. We are made for each other in some respects lifts the veil on an unknown phenomenon, but remains an accepted romantic film.
In theaters from February 7
Romantic comedy
We are made for each other
Pascal Elbe
With Pascal Elbé, Sandrine Kiberlain, Valérie Donzelli, Manon Lemoine, Emmanuelle Devos, François Berléand
1:32