Your Sister's Sister ****

Lynn Shelton’s new film about relationships, both sibling and romantic, is a very sweet and funny three-hander between the lovely Emily Blunt, the equally lovely but cynical and kind of spiky Rosemarie DeWitt, and the endearing emotional mess that is Mark Duplass.

Iris (Blunt) sends her best friend Jack (Duplass) to stay at her family’s remote cabin after an outburst at a memorial party shows he is still struggling to come to terms with his brother’s death a year on.  The idea is for him to cycle there, spend some time in solitude away from distractions, think about his life, and come back a slightly saner man.  When he arrives at the cabin however he finds Iris’s sister Hannah (DeWitt) there for a similar reason, having just split up from her girlfriend of seven years.   Tequila is drunk, lesbianism is temporarily rescinded, and they sleep together.  Iris shows up the next day, unaware of the drunken shenanigans, she reveals to her sister that she is secretly in love with Jack, and over the next few days their entwined relationships get a little knotty.

The strength of this film lies in the first rate performances from all three actors (aside from the first scene they are the only people in the film).  Blunt and DeWitt manage to pull off that complicated sisterly relationship, balancing closeness with a never acknowledged undermining of each other that anyone with siblings will recognise.  The awkwardness between Duplass and DeWitt is also completely convincing and never feels contrived.  All three characters are witty, and endearingly ‘damaged’, but the film manages never to stray into the self-absorption of bad hipster movie territory.

A great scene comes near the end of the film that subtly captures the tone of the whole.  Jack is trying to destroy his bike – he throws it to the ground repeatedly but it barely bends.  It’s simultaneously sad and funny because he’s trying to take his despair out on this bicycle, but his grand dramatic gesture falls flat.  It’s emotionally moving, about dealing with death, and life, but it’s low-key and funny and somehow realistic.  Not many people have a cabin in the beautiful wilderness that they can escape to when life gets too difficult, but everyone has had that moment of frustration when they’ve tried to smash a wall and all they’ve achieved is a throbbing toe.  

The Well Digger's Daughter ***

Daniel Auteuil, of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources fame, makes his directorial debut in the rather gentle, rather old-fashioned, but really rather sweet The Well-Digger’s Daughter. Astrid Bergès-Frisbey (who you may recognise despite the lack of mermaid tail from Pirates of the Caribbean 4, but don’t hold that against her) is the daughter in question, Patricia, a beautiful 18 year old who was brought up in Paris and has a repressed yearning for the finer things in life. Her father (Auteuil) thinks that he will be able to keep his beloved daughter close if she marries his good-hearted workmate and friend Felipe. She however only has eyes for the rich general store owner’s son Jacques, who is in the Air Force. Faced with the choice between a middle-aged well digger and a dashing pilot with a motorbike it‘s hardly a tough decision.

Alas we are in pre-war France, and after Patricia succumbs to Jacques’ charms he is immediately sent to the front line. Jacques unknowingly leaves Patricia pregnant; her father is appalled that she has lost her honour, Jacques’ parents are appalled that he would get involved with a girl from a poor family, and some mild parent vs. child, honour vs. love drama ensues.

Its mild drama is reminiscent of Downton Abbey and Sunday tea-times, where there’s never really any risk of danger. Its nostalgic charms therefore won’t appeal to everyone. If the idea of a boy falling in love with a girl as he carries her over a river because there is no bridge and she can’t manage to untie her shoelaces just makes you want to throw the couple, or yourself, in a river, then perhaps avoid this one.

If however you’re not averse to a bit of sentimentality then there are some fine sun-drenched performances to enjoy here. Don’t be so grumpy - sugar‘s good for you every once in a while.

Original review here