I Love America

I Love America
Original title:I Love America
Director:Lisa Azuelos
Release:Prime Video
Running time:102 minutes
Release date:11 march 2022
Rating:
Lisa decides to change her life by leaving Paris for Los Angeles. Her children have left the family nest and her famous mother, who was absent all her life, has just died: Lisa needs a fresh start! She meets her best friend Luka who has made a successful career in the United States by opening a famous drag queen bar, but his love life is as complicated as it is abundant. Luka takes it upon himself to help Lisa re-launch her long-dormant love life by creating a profile on a dating website. Between awkward dates and an unexpected story with John, Lisa understands that the real encounter is with herself, if she can forgive the one who was her first love... her mother.

Mulder's Review

The new film of the writer and director Lisa Azuelos (Comme t'y es belle! (2006), LOL (2008), Une rencontre (2014), Dalida (2016) and Mon bébé (2019)) will be offered directly on the streaming platform Prime Video and will unfortunately not be released in cinemas. However, while cinemas are struggling to regain their faithful audience, such a film would have been a good way to forget the recent news with the pandemic of Covid 19 and the fate of Ukraine under fire from the Russian occupation. 

Discovering an original and successful romantic comedy is surely the best way to change one's mind and tell oneself that life must go on despite everything. For those of us who grew up watching Sophie Marceau's films (La boom (1980), Police (1985), Fanfan (1993), The World is not enough (1999), Anthony Zimmer (2005), LOL (2009), Une rencontre (2009)), I Love America can certainly be watched with a real sense of nostalgia and a desire to rediscover the beautiful city of Los Angeles which has inspired so many directors by giving life to memorable films. However, I Love America is certainly not Lisa Azuelos' best film to date, but it is certainly her most personal, as the character of Lisa, played by Sophie Marceau, appears to be her idealized reflection.

Lisa's (Sophie Marceau) life seems to be at a standstill between her mother who is seriously ill and is living her last days and numerous breakups that have left her with two teenage daughters to manage as a single mother. So she decides to start over by leaving her comfort zone of Paris for Los Angeles.  While her two daughters have left the family nest and her mother, a popular singer who has been virtually absent all her life, has just died: Lisa needs to breathe and find herself and what better place than the City of Angels to enjoy the advantages of this beautiful city between the sea, the posh neighborhoods and the many opportunities that this city can offer for a director like her. Lisa is hosted by her gay best friend Luka (Djanis Bouzyani) who has made a success of his life in the United States by opening a trendy bar for drag queens. However, Lisa, in need of a date, sees that her love life has been in mourning for too long and accepts Luka's advice to register on a dating application like Meetic. He creates such an attractive portrait of her that many suitors start to turn around and propose dates to her. While most of them don't lead to anything, Lisa will meet John (Colin Woodell) and will really fall in love with him. She has to forget her mother's influence and her difficult past in order to really enjoy life.

Far from being a succession of stereotypes on the relationships between men and women in our current society or a romantic comedy calibrated to please everyone, I love America is rather a vision of a director who loves Los Angeles and her job and above all cinema. I love America is especially worthwhile for the presence of the superb actress Sophie Marceau who was a real fantasy for all those who saw her first films and who learned to recognize not only that she is an excellent actress but also has an undeniable presence on the screen. For their third collaboration Lisa Azuelos and Sophie Marceau testify to the strong bond that exists between them and how this almost fusional bond allows this actress to give the best of herself and to be both seductive and fragile at the same time.

For all those who know Los Angeles well, I love America really makes you want to return to this sprawling city where many French people have exiled themselves to live their own dream like Lisa and simply devour life. Certainly, I love America is watched with the same pleasure as finding the actress Sophie Marceau always so radiant on the screen even if it is only on her television.

I love America
Directed by Lisa Azuelos
Produced by Eleonore Dailly, Edouard de Lachomette
Written by Lisa Azuelos, Gael Fierro
With Sophie Marceau, Colin Woodell, Djanis Bouzyani, Saül Benchetrit, Sophie Verbeeck
Cinematography : Léo Hinstin 
Production companies: Autopilot Entertainment, Amazon
Distributed by Prime Video
Release date : March 11, 2022 (World)
Running time: 102 minutes

Seen on March 01, 2022 (Press Access)

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