Park Benches

Park Benches

2009 ""
Park Benches
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Park Benches
Watch on

Park Benches

5.9 | 1h50m | en | Drama

As she does every morning, Lucie takes advantage of her journey to work to lose herself for a while in the pages of a good book. And as she does every morning, she joins her colleagues at the office with a smile. It's a working day just like any other. Then suddenly all activity in the office stops. All attention is turned towards the window of the opposite building opposite and abanner reading: Man Alone. Is it a hoax? A cry for help? Everyone has his own interpretation, and will try, by any means possible, to discover what lies behind this mysterious message.

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5.9 | 1h50m | en | More Info
Released: November. 11,2009 | Released Producted By: France 2 Cinéma , Why Not Productions Country: France Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
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As she does every morning, Lucie takes advantage of her journey to work to lose herself for a while in the pages of a good book. And as she does every morning, she joins her colleagues at the office with a smile. It's a working day just like any other. Then suddenly all activity in the office stops. All attention is turned towards the window of the opposite building opposite and abanner reading: Man Alone. Is it a hoax? A cry for help? Everyone has his own interpretation, and will try, by any means possible, to discover what lies behind this mysterious message.

Genre

Drama , Comedy , Romance

Watch Online

Park Benches (2009) is now streaming with subscription on AMC+

Cast

Denis Podalydès , Florence Muller , Pierre Arditi , Hippolyte Girardot , Josiane Balasko , Michel Vuillermoz

Director

Valérie Rozanes

Producted By

France 2 Cinéma

Park Benches Videos and Images

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  • Top Credited Cast
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  • Crew
Valérie Rozanes
Valérie Rozanes

Art Direction

Marie Cheminal
Marie Cheminal

Production Design

Yves Cape
Yves Cape

Director of Photography

Dorothée Guiraud
Dorothée Guiraud

Costume Design

Delphine Jaffart
Delphine Jaffart

Makeup Artist

Bruno Podalydès
Bruno Podalydès

Director

Nicolas Becker
Nicolas Becker

Foley Artist

Ezéchiel Pailhès
Ezéchiel Pailhès

Original Music Composer

Olivia Basset
Olivia Basset

Writer

Park Benches Audience Reviews

Mjeteconer Just perfect...
Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.
Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Pepedrabbit . This movie plodded along listlessly with no particular message. Finally, I could take it no more. I mercifully killed it, gave it one star on Netflix and moved on to other things.It started well enough. Had it just stuck to that theme, you might have been able to salvage some of it. You don't throw Catherine Deneveux into a movie unless it is a serious movie. The scenes were way too long, there were too many characters, and you could not really identify with any of them. Frankly, it was no different from taking your camera to your office and filming your colleagues in various states of mischief and trying to pass it on as a serious movie.
jotix100 We watch as Lucie, obviously a commuter, goes to work one morning. It is a complicated affair where several changes must be made. Once at her office, which she shares with two other women, they idle their down time with different activities on line like games, dating services and other trivial matters. As the blinds from their window are raised, the ladies notice a banner proclaiming 'Man Alone" on the balcony of the building across the street. What could the message mean? The office is full of speculations as most of the employees have seen the banner.The scene changes to a park near where the office is located. Most of the employees go to have lunch at the park, Lucie included. We watch an assortment of characters enjoying the balmy afternoon at a tranquil setting. Among the visitors we find some fellows from a nearby hardware store, much like Home Depot. One man in particular, Aime, was asked by his boss to hand out the weekly circular advertising special sales, but he entertains himself making paper airplanes. One of those lands in front of Lucie, who looks directly at Aime.The third part of the story is set inside the store. Aime, who shows signs of depression, loves to drink a liquid that is added to fish tanks. He and his fellow workers show an enormous ineptitude to help the customers that come searching for different tools and gizmos. Lucie comes in looking for a present for a retiring woman at the office. She wants gold fish to add to one of the presents for Mme. Renivelle. In the middle of the celebration, Lucie looks across the street and sees light inside the "Man Alone" apartment. In her heart she has a hunch she knows who is the dweller.A good comedy by director Bruno Podalydes with a cast of what could be a Who's Who in the French cinema. This is a sort of a comic opera in three acts with whimsical overtones. First, there is the concern about what desperation the man that wrote the banner must be feeling. Not able to solve the puzzle, life intervenes in different forms. The only negative thing about the film is that most of the actors have a limited time on screen and some vignettes are not as fully developed as the others. Despite that, the comedy is fun to watch. Florence Muller and Denis Podalydes are the actors that have the bigger parts out of the many luminaries that grace the screen with their individual cameo appearances. There are too many to just mention one. The ensemble acting the director gets from the large cast is remarkable. One can imagine the fun in the set as the film was made.
gaspards After having seen the cast and read a preview I was convinced it would be a good movie. Generally this is exactly the type of movie I like. A movie about the interactions of regular people in a neighbourhood. No special plot, just a poetic observation of life in a limited space.Unfortunately the film was a total disappointment. It felt like a juxtaposition of stories which never allow the audience empathise with the characters.The most engaging scene was the one in the park with an interesting alternation of the camera between different people. The viewer felt part of the scene as a common bystander sat on a bench, observing each different group, each different scene. The director should have developed this part as the film title lead to believe instead of letting the scene at the hardware store drag on.In the end I wonder why so many great French actors agreed to collaborate on this film.