Someone, Somewhere

The new French film Someone, Somewhere was originally titled Deux Moi, which means, more or less, Two of Me. But if the U.S. distributors had really wanted a good American title, they could have dubbed it Sleepless in Paris, since it’s about two lonely people who might be the cure for one another’s melancholy — if only they would meet.

Rémy (François Civil, Frank) works for an Amazon-like distribution center that’s busy replacing humans with robots. He seems impervious to stress but isn’t happy and can’t sleep. Mélanie (Ana Girardot, Escobar: Paradise Lost) is worried that she sleeps too much. She’s a graduate student and researcher preparing for her first major presentation. The movie follows each of them through their lives in a series of smart, funny vignettes: Rémy spectacularly failing a job interview; Mélanie having a series of bad dates from online match sites; and so on.

They live, of course, on the same floor in adjacent buildings: Mélanie’s with timeless French architectural details, Rémy’s a cold glass-and-steel structure. They cross paths in their local pharmacy or in the Middle Eastern market where they shop; Rémy smells the smoke from Mélanie’s cigarette when they’re both on their oh-so-close balconies. Their separate therapists are friends. They even consecutively adopt the same adorable white kitten who’s therapeutic for each of them. But they don’t meet until — let’s just say “later.”

It’s not overreaching to say that Someone, Somewhere is less about Rémy and Mélanie than it is about modern alienation and isolation. But it’s also not off-putting for viewers, because the theme is so well grounded in narrative, in familiar behaviors and situations and feelings we all recognize. The movie is keenly observed and witty and almost always charming, a kind of French take on Serendipity, minus the romantic prologue.

Most important, the lead actors, Civil and Girardot, are completely believable and sympathetic, which gives the movie emotional weight despite its episodic plotting. And fans of French filmmaking will enjoy writer/director Cédric Klapisch’s nods to Jacques Tati, that wry observer of mid 20th century life and its architectural and technological quirks. The neighborhood where Rémy and Mélanie live, at the foot of the hill of Montmartre, Paris’s gorgeous white cathedral, is as much a character as the protagonists.

The final third of Someone, Somewhere may be a bit longer than it needs to be, especially once viewers can see where it’s going, but the ending is still satisfying — hopeful yet not saccharine. It’s a film that would benefit from multiple viewings, to appreciate better its subtle structure and deeply human touches. I’m willing to bet there’s humor I missed on the first go-round as well. And the plus side of online screenings is that repeats are included in the price.

Grade: B-plus. Not rated, but PG-13 equivalent. Available April 24 from the Virtual Cinema program on the Fine Arts Theatre website.

(Photo courtesy of Distrib Films)