an entertaining father

Artistic note: (3/5)

Synopsis

Tony, in his fifties, a school bus driver withdrawn, lives alone after having abandoned his wife and child twenty years earlier. Shaken by a heart attack, he finds the courage to face his past and enroll incognito in the dance class led by his daughter, whom he has never known, with the aim of (re)conquering her and give meaning to his life.

• Original title: Rumba life
• Media tested: Blu-ray
• Genre: comedy
• Year: 2022
• Director: Franck Dubosc
• Cast: Franck Dubosc, Louna Espinosa, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Marie-Philomène Nga, Karina Marimon, Catherine Jacob, Michel Houellebecq, Marie Vincent
• Duration: 1 h 41 min 52
• Video format: 16:9
• Cinema format: 2.39/1
• Subtitling: French
• Soundtracks: DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 French
• Bonus: Making of: Intensive dance training with Denitsa Ikonomova (3 min 33) – Franck Dubosc, actor and director (3 min 29) – The genesis of the project (2 min 27) – trailer (1 min 32)
• Publisher: Gaumont

Art commentary

Since Camping (2006), comedian Franck Dubosc became a recognized film actor who in 2018 made his first comedy Everybody stand upvery well received by critics and the public. rumba lifehis second production, does not reiterate the finesse of Everybody stand up which dealt with subtlety and delicacy of disability. Both comedies, however, operate on the same comic spring of the main protagonist impersonating another. But the theme, this time more agreed, consists in recounting the reunion of a young girl, Maria, with her unknown father, Tony, one full of life teaching rumba, the other solitary and anonymous driving a bus. school. To depict this meeting at high emotional risk, Franck Dubosc chose the particular setting of ballroom dancing and its “old-fashioned charm”. Unafraid of the difficulties that such a choice implied in effort and rehearsal to appear credible on screen, the filmmaker granted himself the role of the father and found in Louisa Espinosa the perfect incarnation of “his” daughter. Visually the couple, splendidly lit and photographed by Ludovic Colbeau-Justin, works perfectly on screen, supported by a completely convincing cast in tasty roles: Jean-Pierre Darroussin (Gilles), Marie-Philomène Nga (Fany) and Karina Marimon (Carmen). The brief but indescribable performances by Catherine Jacob (Josy) and Michel Houellebecq (Dr. Mory) add a bit of zaniness to this comedy that is not devoid of gravity. Because obviously, Franck Dubosc, screenwriter and director, moves away from the caricatural roles of the comic scene to work on the intimate psychology and the fragility of his characters: thus Tony, presented as absolutely asocial, will gain in empathy over the intrigue, especially since the actor Franck Dubosc does not make tons of it and retains an appreciable fair measure. Louisa Espinosa is the revelation of this film: her naturalness and her charm monopolize the attention and ensure the intensity of a role of dance teacher which was not obvious. which does not prevent rumba life to be an uneven film, going from the trivial of humorous situations without finesse to sequences of pure emotion. The result is a dramatic comedy which follows without boredom but which will not mark the spirits and which should not be mistaken for a film on the rumba, the dance being only a dramatic pretext to tell these imaginary filial reunions . Rather nuanced and good-natured, rumba life managed to avoid any unpleasant flashes. Entertaining.

Technical Comment

Image : HD copy, excellent definition and constant sharpness on details, very bright images with sustained blacks, warm calibration, shimmering colorimetry with vivid natural tints and nuanced tones

His : French 5.1 mixing, clear and balanced dialogues, excellent dynamics on the atmospheres and the rhythmic music of Sylvain Goldberg and Matteo Locasciulli, ample and naturalistic spatialization with effective surround effects (dances, traffic) with occasional spectacular use of LFE

Our opinion

Image : (4/5)
Sound mixes: (4/5)
Bonuses: (2/5)
Packaging: (3/5)

IMDb :

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