We will end up together: Guillaume Canet power 2 (review)

Darker, more bitter and therefore more exciting than Les Petits Mouchoirs, a brilliant sequel.

Released in May 2019 in cinemas, We will end up together, the continuation of Small handkerchiefshad pleased First. We are republishing our review on the occasion of its rebroadcast on W9, this Sunday.

The following exercise reminds us that cinema is at least as much an industry as it is an art. In 99.99% of cases, we ride on a success without taking the time to dig into the situations and the characters. The only watchword: strike while the iron is still hot. By this yardstick, We will end up together detonates. First, because we can hardly accuse him of riding any wave when the box office Small Handkerchiefs dates back nine years already. It’s even quite a challenge to embark on an adventure where the protagonists have much more to lose than to gain.

The Little Handkerchiefs or the triumph of the gang of friends by Guillaume Canet

Nine years ago – with the exception of François Cluzet and Marion Cotillard, already an Oscar winner – Gilles Lellouche, Laurent Lafitte, Pascale Arbillot & co did not benefit from the same notoriety as today. In a way, they are putting their title back on the line on more than shifting ground. But there is something even more singular in the desire to embark on this sequel. An even crazier bet. Will the public want to find these characters again when the success of Small Handkerchiefs is based on a strange misunderstanding? How could such a bitter work on human relationships symbolize for some people a celebration of friendship? And what rush would we have, then, to hear from those who seem to have friends only in name?

However, very quickly, we understand that this question will be precisely at the center of this second episode, more mature and denser. The opening scene sets the tone. The gang doesn’t meet up in the usual way, hugging and kissing each other. She does so reluctantly. Because the death of their friend Ludo blew everything up and caused deep wounds. Even if we no longer see them missing. At least, to some of them. The idea therefore arises among them to go and surprise Max (François Cluzet) for his birthday. And the result is short. The surprise, quickly passed away, does not delight Max. These outstretched hands – some against their will – attack him: he has lost everything and is ashamed to admit it to those whom he once invited as a great lord every summer; Véronique (Valérie Bonneton) left him; his business has declined and he is forced to put his house up for sale. And even if he found love again with Sabine, played by Clémentine Baert, seeing this gang reappear violently sends him back to this glorious past.

LOSS OF ILLUSION
This opening as if backwards sets the tempo of what will follow, backwards from the Small Handkerchiefs. Forgotten the unsaid and the pathos. With another decade under their belt, the characters no longer have time to waste. Many have lost their illusions: Marie (Marion Cotillard), who dreamed of changing the world, has come back from everything; Antoine (Laurent Lafitte), who wanted to break through as an actor, is the hard-working assistant of Éric (Gilles Lellouche), who has become the star that he will never be, and Vincent (Benoît Magimel) knows that between Max and him, any love story is impossible. Everyone is aware that just because we were friends once doesn’t mean we have to always be friends. That to end up together, we must say our remorse, regrets and reproaches to each other’s faces. You have to show off – and take it – in stride.

ASSUME CYNISM
Canet excels in these cathartic outbursts. In the writing as in the staging, more precise and sharp than on The Little Handkerchiefs. Its satire on human relationships hits the mark: people often laugh and are humiliated more often than not. Moments of pure comedy are rarer: the film embraces its cynicism. But if he hits, it’s to caress better. Because when emotion is born, it does not seem artificial. Yes, human beings are imperfect, a little cowardly, deceitful and self-centered, Canet assures us here. But there is only one way for them to get through this: together. Despite their cowardice, their deceitfulness and their egos. This is exactly why we love this We will end up together : because he never tries to be friendly and catches you by surprise. And provides proof of the depth acquired by its director, always as brilliant in his direction of actors – old and new alike (José Garcia as a competitor to Max from whom he wants to steal everything: his restaurants, his barracks, his female…). What if we met them in ten years?

Guillaume Canet: “The heroes of We will end up together reflect my imperfections”