JUST TO BE SURE 3rd August 2018

JTBS_PRESS_02_FrancoisDamiens_CeciledeFrance

Just to be Sure

Julian Wood, film critic FilmInk. 
Year: 2017 Rating: M 
Director: Carine Tardieu 
Cast:François Damiens, Cecile de France, Guy Marchand, Alice de Lencquesaing Running Time: 100 minutes 
Erwan Gourmelon (François Damiens) is an unpretentious middle-aged man with the responsible if quirky job of clearing old wartime munitions from his town’s beaches. He is on good terms with his father (Guy Marchand) but has a slightly spikey relationship with his grown-up daughter Juliette (the wonderful Alice de Lencquesaing). One day, Erwan finds out, by accident, that the man he grew up with is not his biological father. This sets up a dilemma because he is fond of his old man but, at the same time, he now has this itch to know who his real father is/was. 
The film is deliberately more like a Shakespearian comedy than a French farce, but director Carine Tardieu (The Dandelions) manages to keep the many side stories and the main romance likable and interesting. There is no straining for overdone profundity here. Rather it relies on its Gallic charm, and the excellent cast are all fully at home with the style and the material. It is very well played and, in a film like this, that is easily enough. 

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