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A View of Love

A View of Love (Un balcon sur la mer)

Movie · 2010 · 13 people

Nicole Garcia wrote and directed Un balcon sur la mer ("A balcony over the sea"), released internationally as A View of Love, a French film from 2010. A romantic mystery with a dramatic streak, it stars Jean Dujardin. The film of about 105 minutes was produced by EuropaCorp and opened in France on 15 December 2010.

The story is set mainly in the south of France and concerns three pied-noir children who are torn apart as Algeria gains its independence. Years later two of them meet again: one is a married estate agent, the other a mysterious woman being used to defraud the firm he works for. Childhood memories are reopened through flashbacks, and the play Iphigénie, which the children once acted in together, runs through the narrative as a recurring parallel: in it two princesses compete for a flawed hero, and one of them meets a tragic fate.

Alongside Dujardin the cast includes Marie-Josée Croze, Toni Servillo, Sandrine Kiberlain, Michel Aumont and Claudia Cardinale, with Émilie Chesnais, Georges Neri, Muriel Combeau, Nadir Legrand and Jean-François Malet also listed. Garcia wrote the screenplay with Jacques Fieschi.

DirectorNicole Garcia
Production companyEuropaCorp

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Cast

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Claudia Cardinale Claudia Cardinale Actor · died at 87 Sandrine Kiberlain Sandrine Kiberlain Film actor · 58 years old Émilie Chesnais Georges Neri Jean Dujardin Marie-Josée Croze Michel Aumont Muriel Combeau Nadir Legrand Richard Guedj Toni Servillo Pierre Rochefort Jean-François Malet

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Nicole Garcia builds her romantic mystery out of flashbacks to childhood and sets the children's play Iphigénie inside the story like a mirror. The play, in which two princesses compete for a flawed hero, draws a line of resemblance to the adults' reunion. The idea is elegant, but whenever the parallel loses its subtlety it risks becoming too obvious a signpost. Between the swindle and the reckoning with the past, the narrative sometimes looks like two separate films. Jean Dujardin in the lead and names like Claudia Cardinale and Toni Servillo in the cast raise expectations; to my mind the real question is whether mystery and melancholy ever settle into the same rhythm.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The most interesting thing about the film is the historical rupture behind it: children of pied-noir background torn apart as Algeria won its independence. That separation is, in my view, still a sensitive corner of France's reckoning with its colonial past. The film places it inside a love-and-mystery story, trying to show the link between personal memory and social upheaval. Where it may fall short is that the historical context often works as backdrop, and the social side of displacement is not explored in depth. Even so, it opens a door of curiosity for viewers unfamiliar with the subject and makes you think about how a great historical event lived in childhood seeps into adult life.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

This isn't a family film but a romantic drama for grown-ups. A married man, a mysterious woman from his past and a swindle sit at the centre of the story. Children would struggle to follow a narrative that moves through flashbacks. Better suited to a quiet evening with your partner or an adult friend.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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