23rd French Film Festival: Marry Me, Dude... and everyone lives happily ever after

Angeli Bayani, Bembol Roco, Yayo Aguila,
and Eula Valdez 

The threat of a heavy downpour didn’t stop the stars, VIP’s, and guests who love French cinema from strutting down the red carpet at the Première Night of the 23^rd French Film Festival held recently at the Central Square, Bonifacio Global City.

I guess that everyone there, myself included, couldn’t wait to get back in a celebratory mood after last year’s opening got cancelled due to security concerns. While moderate rain poured outside, celebrities also poured inside like actors Yayo Aguila, Angeli Bayani, Mon Confiado, Cherie Gil, Bembol Roco, Eula Valdez, and Althea Vega. Rock star Ely Buendia was also spotted walking the red carpet that night. I heard that these celebrities arrived at the venue through a motorcade sponsored by Peugeot.

RAd with the usual suspects at foreign language film festivals:
Rob, Dagny, Marco, Marz, and Toto

The food by Paris Délice and cocktails by Don Papa at the reception were such a hit that it took some effort to um, force the guests to head to the cinema for the actual film screening. But due to technical issues, the previously announced film to be screened that night, Taxi 5, had to be replaced with Épouse-moi mon pote/Marry Me, Dude.

Épouse-moi mon pote/Marry Me, Dude

One of the goals of the festival in recent years is to develop an audience so that French films can be released commercially beyond the festival. And to test the waters, this year’s edition has included a few mainstream movies that are accessible and somehow relatable to the Filipino audience. And Épouse-moi mon pote/Marry Me, Dude, released in 2017, is one of the films that will have a wider-commercial release later on through the distribution of Pioneer Films.

The movie stars Tarek Boudali (who also directed and co-wrote the film) as Yassine, a Moroccan who becomes an illegal immigrant in France when he loses his student visa after a night of indiscretion. Marrying his slacker bestfriend, Fred (Philippe Lacheau) looks to be a solution to Yassine’s problem that is until immigration officer Dussart (Philippe Duquesne) suspects that the marriage is a sham. To further complicate Yassine’s problems, add to the mix his former flame Claire (Andy Raconte), Fred’s girlfriend Lisa (Charotte Gabris), and of all people, his mother (Baya Belal). The film follows how Yassine and Fred try to keep the appearance of a married gay couple to satisfy Dussart while keeping the rest, especially the women in Yassine’s life, out of the loop. But sooner or later, this juggling act of Yassine is bound to get out of hand and he has to come clean during the film’s eventual climax.

The film did deliver some laughs but the shallow and stereotypical depiction of homosexual couples and lifestyle meant that the gags that relied on this worn out its welcome quite earlier on for me. I am not a huge fan of the romantic comedy genre with everything getting sorted out and everyone being happy in the end. And this film did have a grand picturesque ending that had almost practically everyone joining in the celebratory finale even if they didn’t have a stake to whatever happened to Yassine.

Despite my misgivings with this film, I think that having something light (albeit offensive) worked well for this particular evening. It would have put a damper on the celebratory mood seeing yet another of those disturbing films starring Isabelle Huppert especially now that the red carpet was rolled out once again after last year’s cancellation. And better to have had some laughs before heading out on the road with the prospect of a very rainy weekend ahead.

The 23^rd French Film Festival is presented by the Embassy of France to the Philippines, Institut Français, UniFrance, the Alliance française de Manille, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines, in cooperation with the Ayala Malls Cinemas, SSI Group, Inc., and Central Square with the support of Lacoste, L’Occitane, Diptyque, Peugeot Philippines, Marithé François Girbaud, Pioneer Films, CMB Paris Délice, Don Papa, Le Cellier, Taters, Chimara, and media partners Expat Newspaper and Spot.ph.