It was interesting to see this film directed by the woman who made the fascinating 'Mina Tannenbaum', which succeeded better than this one, possibly because it involved fewer characters. This is an ensemble piece on the 'group of friends' theme. These are not as easy to direct as they seem, as there are too many balls in the air at one time. The main problem with this attempt is that we don't really care about these people very much, because they are silly and spoilt and self-indulgent. Apparently, this film is meant to deal with this issue satirically, but this dimension was lost on me, as I am not French and clearly 'don't get that'. The only character with whom I had the slightest sympathy was the one played by Romane Bohringer, who always seems to make her characters of compelling concern, even when they should be repellent. Here again, as in 'L'Appartement', made earlier the same year, Romane plays a girl in the compulsive grip of obsessive love. She is eerily convincing at this, and she must be dangerous to meet, in case she becomes fixated. She gets 'that manic look in her eye' and you have to run! Strangely, Romane seems much slimmer in this film than in the one made earlier in that year. Her performance is certainly the best, but not far behind are Helena Bonham Carter and Elsa Zylberstein, who are also extremely powerful in their performances. Helena B.C. (there is no A.D. version) seems more at ease and casual in this film than in her English films, and as a foreigner her French sounds great to me, though doubtless the Academie Francaise would accuse her of something, and so would those shoulder shruggers to be found all over Omnia Gallia which as we all know divisa est, as no one there ever stops quarreling or quibbling. This film gets better as it goes along, starting rather slowly, with us not knowing who everybody is for some time. Eventually it all pulls together and we think 'how quaint', wistfully thinking: 'Wouldn't it be nice if I cared?' It was disturbing and tragic to see Marie Trintignant in this film, knowing her terrible fate to come, poor girl. She seems shy and occasionally a bit spaced-out, with a hint of decadence, but does well, and one cannot help but sense, 'bravely', as she seems by nature an introvert who was forcing herself to perform in public against her nature.