Mon Roi translates into English as My King. Divorcee lawyer Tony believes she has found her very own king in Georgio, when they meet and embark on a giddy love affair. Tony is drawn into Georgio’s crazy and recklessly fun behaviour and is, at first, wary that someone so perfect has fallen so desperately in love with her. It all just seems to good to be true.
Directed by Maiwenn and presented in French with English subtitles, Mon Roi opens with Tony recovering from a horrific ski accident. While in rehab she recounts her time with Georgio and their tumultuous and destructive ten-year love affair.
This film is a refreshing contrast to the usual love stories we see on the big screen. Instead of witnessing the finding of the great love of our life, this is a story about the love you can feel for someone that can be dangerous and unhealthy. It is a well-told but, at times, depressing story of jealousy, manipulation and how love is sometimes not enough to make a relationship work.
Mon Roi was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where Emmanuelle Bercot won the best actress award for her performance as Tony. Bercot is brilliant and convincingly unravels through her cycling attraction and repulsion for the man of her dreams, while Vincent Cassel is at first adorable as Georgio and effectively portrays a man who hides his real emotions with a mixture of indifference and buffoonery.
If you are looking for heart-skipping romance with a happy ending, this is probably not the film for you. Mon Roi is however a much more believable love story about the type of love that you can’t live with and can’t live without, that is both engaging and beautifully told.
Reviewed by Ceri Horner
Twitter: @CeriHorner
Rating out of 10: 8
Mon Roi will screen on 1, 9, 10, 14, 21 & 24 April 2016 for Alliance Française French Film Festival, which runs 31 March – 24 April 2016 exclusively at the Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas.
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