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Petites Coupures Details

2003 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 50
  • from 989 members

This intriguing drama stars Daniel Auteuil as Bruna, a world weary journalist who has literally lost his way in the foothills of Grenoble when he encounters the enigmatic Beatrice (Kristin Scott Thomas). As a result of this meeting Bruno's life of adultery just ends up becoming even more hopelessly tangled. Read more

Starring Daniel Auteuil, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Ludivine Sagnier, Emmanuelle Devos
Director Pascal Bonitzer
Genres Drama, World Cinema

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Petites Coupures cover art

Petites Coupures

This intriguing drama stars Daniel Auteuil as Bruna, a world weary journalist who has literally lost his way in the foothills of Grenoble when he encounters the enigmatic Beatrice (Kristin Scott Thomas). As a result of this meeting Bruno's life of adultery just ends up becoming even more hopelessly tangled.

Starring Daniel Auteuil, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Ludivine Sagnier, Emmanuelle Devos, Pascale Bussieres
Director Pascal Bonitzer
Studio ARTIFICIAL EYE
Run time DVD: 1 hr 32 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama, World Cinema
Language DVD: French
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 26 Jan 2004
Production year: 2003
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (5) of Petites Coupures

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  • 2 stars out of 5

    Daniel Auteuil struggles valiantly to make an impact as the ageing lothario whose world collapsed with the Berlin Wall in this meandering comedy drama of sexual manners. But, as in his previous outing, Rien sur Robert, director Pascal Bonitzer succeeds only in keeping his star shuttling between a variety of transient characters without pausing to let us learn very much about him. This tactic also reduces the performances of wife Emmanuelle Devos and his countless lovers to mere walk-on parts, with only Kristin Scott Thomas registering as the kook he meets while visiting his elderly uncle Jean Yanne. Polished but aimlessly superficial.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • Journalist Bruno (Auteuil) is swithering between a wavering wife (Devos) and a much younger girlfriend (Sagnier), and... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Petites Coupures

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  • 14 out of 17 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star

    Eh?

    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.

      • Simon Cockle from Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
      • Posted 04 Nov 2004 20:56

  • Most recent members' review of Petites Coupures

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  • 6 out of 7 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star

    When arthouse gets things very, very wrong...

    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.

      • Kino from Hants
      • Posted 28 May 2004 12:24

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Rating breakdown

989 Member ratings
  • 100
21
  • 90
28
  • 80
63
  • 70
106
  • 60
186
  • 50
186
  • 40
147
  • 30
111
  • 20
97
  • 10
44

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      • This intriguing drama stars Daniel Auteuil as Bruna, a world weary journalist who has literally lost his way in the foothills of Grenoble when he encounters the enigmatic Beatrice (Kristin Scott ...