Mon cousin

After the first striking and uncompromising films (Doberman (1997), Blueberry, l'expérience interdite (2004) 99 francs (2007) we had lost track of director Jan Kounen and his latest film Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinky (2009) had gone rather unnoticed. (We'll skip his documentary Vape Wave (2017)). My Cousin is making a comeback and it must be acknowledged that it is by far his best film to date. There is a real desire to transcend the simple feel good movie and popular comedy into something more dramatic and above all a desire to show that it is important for his personal balance to find a balance between his work (even if you are the CEO of a large group) and his family. The screenplay by Fabrice Roger-Lacan with the support of Jan Kounen and Vincent Lindon is intended to be both a portrait of two men who have a heavy past together, a road movie between Paris and Bordeaux, but also a description of the business world in which everything seems sanitized and the many personal sacrifices made to achieve vast projects.

While one might expect a comedy with a duo such as Vincent Lindon and François Damiens to be in line with Francis Veber's cult comedy, this is not the case. On the contrary, the rather original scenario is closer in some ways to the film Rain Man (the red car and the torn photo is not a fortuitous coincidence) than to simple popular comedies that are too often tasteless. Pierre (Vincent Lindon) is a CEO of a large family group at a turning point in his career. His cousin, Adrien (François Damiens) owns 50% of the shares of his company and is voluntarily interned in a psychiatric asylum for his depression and his sometimes-inconsiderate actions. While Pierre and Adrien had an appointment to sign a tacit agreement from the two men not to sell their shares, things will take another turn and the two men will not only have to cohabit but also find each other.

While Pierre is a father who is often absent and who doesn't seem to be listening to his two children or his wife, Adrien is a hardened bachelor who is prey to surprising reactions, which makes him an uncontrollable, different and a little dangerous to those close to him. Carried by two great actors, Mon cousin is a gripping dramatic comedy with several successful scenes including an airplane crash and a business meal that goes wrong in Bordeaux. The director Jan Kounen knows perfectly how to put this endearing duo forward and also incorporates a real dramatic tension by imagining and showing the feeling of Pierre who dares to get rid of his embarrassing cousin at first but who will end up understanding him better and seeing him as a prince of modern times (certainly depressive) rather than an obsessive madman.

One will also appreciate the great care taken concerning the treatment of the secondary roles, notably Pierre's wife (Pascale Arbillot), the executive secretary (Alix Poisson), Pierre's daughter (Capucine Valmary) and above all an excellent cameo by Albert Dupontel as a resident of the asylum of madness in which Adrien interned himself. The director never forgets at any time that it is necessary to take care of her casting to make a film engaging, lively and create an emotional bond with the audience.

With this film, French cinema once again shows that it has nothing to envy American cinema. We have good actors, directors and screenwriters, and we are able to think outside the box and take a fresh look at popular and highly mechanized genres such as comedies. In the same way, great care has been taken in the dialogues and in making the main characters human, even if it means showing their wounds and their will to succeed at all costs. By disconnecting from his family and not listening to his close collaborators, Pierre is a CEO who does not want to hear the word problem but to see possible solutions to remedy it.

Admittedly, the overly simplistic ending leaves a slight false note and we would have liked a little more originality. While Pierre thinks for a slight moment about suicide following a succession of bad news, he only owes his salvation to his cousin Adrien. The latter for his part will have found comfort with Diane, Pierre's assistant. A happy ending but hardly the most successful part of the film.

My cousin
Directed by Jan Kounen
Produced by Richard Grandpierre
Written by Fabrice Roger-Lacan, with the help of Jan Kounen and Vincent Lindon
Starring Vincent Lindon, François Damiens, Pascale Arbillot, Alix Poisson, Pierre Gommé, Séverine Vasselin, Olivia Gotanègre, Dominique Bettenfeld, Catherine Davenier, Eric Laugérias, Nicolas Audebaud, Jean Reynès, Andre LaGeorge, Avant Strangel
Music by Anne-Sophie Versnaeyen
Cinematography: Guillaume Schiffman
Edited by Muriel Douvry
Production companies: Eskwad, with the participation of TF1 Films Productions, UMedia, Pathé
Distributed by Pathé (France)
Release date: September30, 2020 (France)
Running time: 104 minutes

Seen on September 27, 2020 at Gaumont Disney Village, Room 16 seat A17

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