The earliest part of the year always seem to be somewhat of a drag as far as cinema goes. Box offices are fueled by the lust of Valentine’s Day, and it seems that cheesy romance prevails over high quality filmmaking. However, if there is any time when the cheesiness of these types of films can be somewhat forgiven, it would be during these early months of the year when the holiday is celebrated.
Upon beginning Love Is In The Air (Amour et Turbulences), I had a lot of expectations of it being a just another corny romantic comedy. However, I had a slight hope that its French origin would give it a few interesting twists and turns here and there. Sadly, my original expectations were fulfilled. While it is definitely not the worst film in its genre, it lacks anything within the plot line in order to make it stand out from other films produced of this kind.
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Love is in the Air
Director: Alexandre Castagnetti
Country: France
Release Date: January 31st, 2014
Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) is a young woman headed to the airport in order to get back to her fiancé in France. She is quite the perfectionist but has a drive to succeed with her artwork. Simultaneously, Antoine (Nicholas Bedos), an attractive womanizer of sorts, scrambles from the aftermath of a party to catch the next available flight to France. Coincidentally, he and Julie sit beside each other. The moment they lock eyes, a montage of flashbacks reveals that the two have had some sort of relationship in their past. They, while sharing their multitude of stories to passengers on their 6 hour flight, argue and reminisce on times when the chemistry was strong between them. As the sparks slowly rekindle, the pair finds themselves conflicted as to what will happen when their plane touches the ground.
As far as classic Hollywood film structure goes, this film fits right in. While it is pretty clear that those who made this movie were not signing up for anything life-changing, it seems like an effort to make this story more interesting was absolutely non-existent. The formula-ed film structure is utilized with little to no creative variation, and I must say that I could have told you the ending within the first scene. Like most romantic films, it was bland and full of situations that have been in far too many similar workings. Perhaps if they had veered a little bit off this extremely beaten path it would have caught my attention more.
I think romantic comedies set everyone’s standards too high on how to live in a real relationship. As far as films in this category go, Love is in the Air was very well done. Little choices such as lighting or conditions on the airplane are well thought out for the tensions in each situation, but they don’t make up for all of the convenient coincidences.
Although it only follows the classic, linear formulation for creating a screenplay, it is utilized in its best form to capture the lightheartedness that this film takes on. People love these kinds of movies because they are simple, fairly short, and make them feel really good about themselves after. It is easy to follow, and it would make for a good movie to watch on a rainy day. I can’t see this being a movie to be remembered for a lifetime, but I guess it is a lot better than most creations out there.
Love Is In The Air is certainly not a film for everyone. Lacking a complex plot line or reason to think that the two main characters wouldn’t end up together in any way is super ridiculous. It completely fulfilled all of the requirements in order to have it be extra corny. Nonetheless, if it weren’t for its subtitles (because most Americans are usually too lazy to read them), I could see this film blowing up (unfortunately) like anything Nicholas Sparks smacks his name onto. Love Is In The Air is a cute, simple, romantic film that I personally did not enjoy just because of the cliché it perpetuates, but most normal, 20-something females probably will.