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Love is a wonderful thing,
isn’t it? As À la Folie...Pas Du Tout (or He Loves Me…He Loves Me Not)
opens, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement as Angélique (Audrey Tautou) buys a
rose for Loïc (Samuel Le Bihan), the man she loves. Life is all hearts and flowers for
Angélique, an aspiring artist who’s just won a prestigious scholarship—and the heart of a
prestigious cardiologist. There’s just one catch, though. Loïc is married—and his wife,
Rachel (Isabelle Carré), is five months pregnant. But, as Angélique repeatedly assures
her concerned friends, Loïc has every intention of leaving his wife so they can be
together.
But Angélique becomes more and more caught up in the
relationship. Her life begins to revolve around her obsession with Loïc—and as Loïc
repeatedly fails to show up when she expects him, Angélique gives up on her art and her
job…and on life in general. As she suffers through the pain of unrequited love,
Angélique falls apart.
There are, however, two sides to every story—and
He Loves Me… offers both sides. After telling Angélique’s side of the story, the
film rewinds and tells the story from Loïc’s point of view—and things are suddenly very
different.
The film’s greatest twist isn’t exactly a surprise. In fact,
the summary on the back of the DVD case gives it away—but I’m not going to spoil the fun
and give it away here. Still, even if you can figure out the big surprise right from the
start, that won’t take away from the pleasure of watching as it’s played out on screen.
There are still plenty of little surprises along the way—and the story is so ingeniously
done that you can’t help but love it. On top of that, the acting is
spectacular—especially Tautou, who does an outstanding job of slowly transforming her
character from madly in love to just plain mad.
Don’t expect He Loves
Me…He Loves Me Not to be a sweet, romantic love story. As I mentioned early, there
are plenty of hearts and flowers in the beginning, but the deeper you get into the story,
the darker it gets. What you can expect, however, is a fabulously imaginative story with
lots of twists and turns along the way. Don’t miss it.
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