I think the first minutes and the end are great moments of comedy. Nevertheless if I were the director I would have explored more the situation of the characters, he in Paris, she in New York, with a lot of gags, to put them together only in the end. His sudden return to New York slows the funny rythm of the beginning in my opinion and puts us into a series of pseudo romantic very weak scenes like those sessions with Hurt on the couch and Binoche uttering monosyllabes all the time. And one "intelligent" question: how could she got the dog into the plane right in the hour in spite of all those very strict rules about animals travelling abroad?

A deeply metaphorical novel.

There's a man who lives in New York, he's sad, sick, and stuck to an engagement with a woman that he's no longer in love, wearing only fancy suits and shirts of elegant collar. There's a dog that lives in New York, he moans with sadness, he's sick, and tied to a woman by the collar, he walks on a leash three times a day.

There's a woman, she messes up his house (his life) but at the same time she fills it with life (the plants seem more alive). The man loses his clothes, his house, his clients, his profession, like a dog he have only his best friend. With the passion the anesthesia of life, the moans, the sadness, the illness are over. Both from the dog and from the man. What's left for them is to run after the woman to Paris. Revealing the feeling of freedom and happiness you feel when tou get rid of that collar.

"Juliette Binoche cannot act", according to 'anonnymous' below. That is

a ridiculous assertion. As is to link this film with Kieslowski's

'Blue'. The problem with this movie is that neither Binoche nor Hurt are

given the material in the form of a good screenplay nor the direction to

make the film work. It seems to me that Akerman, who is an excellent

director, see La Captive, does not have a good enough command of English

to write a screenplay in the language.

The film, which starts out nicely quickly gets bogged down in the

psychoanalyitical. Endless "yes" and "mmmmm"s loose their amusement

value quickly. The romance angle is badly developed, just why has

Beatrice fallen for John Wire aka Henry? It doesnt work.

But Juliette Binoche can act. In fact in Europe she is regarded with

Isabelle Huppert to be the finest actress working today. But she can

only produce the goods when she is given the material and the careful

direction necessary. Go rent "Rendez-Vous", "The Unbearable Lightness of

Being", "Les Amants du Pont-Neuf", "Three Colours Blue", "Alice &

Martin", "The Widow of Saint-Pierre" and especially "Code Innconnu" and

try arguing otherwise.