Direction: Régis Roinsard
Country: France
This adaptation of Olivier Bourdeaut's bestselling novel flirts between nutsy comedy and tragic drama, holding up thanks to the energy of the actors involved. Although realistic in nature, the story exudes an air of dreamy fable stamped with a ‘French’ sign that implies quality production values, visual aesthetics and decor. Watching it feels like we’re reading a children’s book, but it’s just a love story with traces of Jean Pierre Jeunet and Michel Gondry in an arguable celebration of life through death.
The scenario actively develops from the love at first sight between Camille (Virginie Efira), a beautiful bipolar blonde, and the hussar of her childhood dreams, Georges (Romain Duris). Beyond their obvious chemistry, there’s this assurance of one supporting the other in no matter what circumstance. That notion is reinforced when they have a son, Gary (Solan Machado Graner), named after the American actor Gary Cooper, his dad's favorite. The kid often compensates for his parents’ lunacy by thinking and acting like an adult.
This fiction paints an eccentric and sensitive portrait of the family, and goes deeper than what it seems. But there’s a strong sense of deja-vu along the way, especially regarding the tone. Waiting for Bojangles, whose title references Jerry Jeff Walker’s song “Mr. Bojangles” (here with an excellent interpretation by Marlon Williams who gives it a Nick Drake touch), never loses its lightness, even in the saddest moments. Duris, who also joined the director Régis Roinsard in Populaire (2012), and Efira, hold to their characters with absolute commitment.
