15 out of 18 people found the following review helpful:

Eh?

Simon Cockle from Hitchin, Hertfordshire., 4th November, 2004

Lots of snow. A gun in a pocket. Politics. A big house.

A car journey. A castle. More snow. A fight in a bar.

A big kitchen table. Some more snow. Oh look, it's that gun again. The end.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Not one of his best

LynnUK from from London, 21st November, 2004

Though I always look forward to seeing a Daniel Auteuil film, this one was rather disappointing. The plot was convoluted, the motivation behind his intimate encountered was lacking and I really didn't care about his character and most of the others.

Kristin Scott Thomas was terrific though, her performance was enough to keep me from turning off the movie. All in all, it wasn't horrible, but it doesn't rank with some of Auteuil's better efforts. If you are a fan and want to see all of his movies, then take a look. Otherwise, I'd skip it.

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6 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

When arthouse gets things very, very wrong...

Kino from Hants, 28th May, 2004

Sometimes French cinema produces human dramas which could only be labeled 'transcendent'. Unfortunately, Petites Coupures is not one of those films.

Quite the opposite, in fact. It represents the very worst of that country's august output. Pretentious, patronizing and frequently senseless, it starts off with an unlikely coincidence and then bumbles its way from one contrivance to another before coming to an alleged conclusion.

The main problem appears to be with the lead character, Bruno, who embarks on a ridiculous quest to deliver a letter from his uncle to his aunt's lover (don't even ask!). Daniel Auteuil may be a charming and highly accomplished actor, but even he can't quite convince that he'd have every single member of the female species he encounters ready to lock lips with him. If Petites Coupures were some contemporary Tom Jones, perhaps this aspect of Auteuil's character would be endearing, maybe even funny. But director Bonitzer seems to have tried to make a serious film about aimless people wandering through their lives, unable to break away from causes of hurt. What he has succeeded in making is a mess of a narrative in which one far-fetched character revelation after another propels everything into the realm of the ridiculous.

Even the presence of Kristin Scott Thomas (and her beautifully enunciated French dialogue) isn't enough to stop this from being the kind of thing that allows mainstream cinema audiences to call arthouse fare incomprehensible, self-obsessed and inaccessible.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Atmospheric & Interesting

A Customer from Nottingham, England, 14th June, 2004

Great - really enjoyed this film. Unpredictable and well acted throughout. However, I am surprised by Daniel Auteil's 100% success rate with the ladies - surely he is not to everyone's taste!
If you like this you should like Time Out (L'Emploi Du Temps).

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petites coupures

A Customer from Norwich, 16th February, 2010

Kristin Scott-Thomas at her best. Which is enough for any film.

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really bad

A Customer from London, 12th January, 2009

didnt make it past half way.thought that it would be of a pretty good standard cos of the top notch actors but I think they just churn out too many films in France!

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Petites Coupures

A Customer from North West London, 6th February, 2008

Very French. All about people and their flaws. Kristin Scott Thomas gives her usual commanding performance and in fluent French. Oo la la, I was impressed. She is such an under rated English actress. This is a good film, funny in parts, desparately sad in others.

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