Venus Beauty Institute

Amazon.com

The carefully unattached existence of working girl Nathalie Baye is suddenly upended when lovesick hunk Samuel Le Bihan introduces himself: "My name is Antoine and I love you." Set in a cute glass storefront with a neon pink and blue façade that could have sprung from a Jacques Demy musical, this bittersweet romantic drama was written for the arresting Baye, who plays a middle-aged "girl" in a uniquely Parisian beauty shop that specializes in facials, body treatments, massages, and emotional confession. Her coworkers, young, sweetly guileless brunette cutie Audrey Tautou and gloomy twentysomething Mathilde Seigner, are like glimpses into her past lives, one full of hope and giddy optimism, the other turned resentful from disappointment. She clings to the girly camaraderie and workaday autopilot of her job while her "patronne" (the incomparable Bulle Ogier) nudges her toward responsibility.

Writer-director Tonie Marshall has a marvelous feeling for the women who work and visit the place, though her soulful bohemian artist Le Bihan is defined by little more than good looks, shaggy charm, and a kind of reckless attraction. The film is at its best with the women: the easy by-play and guarded emotions of the shopgirls, the often uncontrolled outbursts of the offbeat and oddball clients, and especially the haunted and lonely performance from Baye, who warily creeps out of her shell for another chance at intimacy. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Great Romantic Comedy. Buy it if you love French movies........2007-03-26

`venus BEAUTY institute' written and directed by Tonie Marshall, in French, with English subtitles, strikes one, on first viewing, as being like some other French movies where nothing of any real consequence seems to happen. The example which comes to mind is Jean Renoir's `The Rules of the Game', one of the all time great movies, and yet not much happens except some intense interaction between the characters, and a seemingly inconsequential accident / murder (ambiguous).

While Audrey Tautou gets second billing on the cover, this is due entirely to her later successes. She plays a less important character than Mathilde Seigner or Bulle Ogier, who are billed below her.

For one who is not up on French cinema beyond Francois Truffaut's early classics, the great treat in this flick is the performance of Nathalie Baye, who does a job easily comparable to some other great French classics such as Katherine Deneuve and Jeanne Moreau. If this were not a `Romantic Comedy', her role would be comparable to Diane Keaton's dangerous life in `Looking for Mr. Goodbar'.

Like `Rules of the Game' and `Jules and Jim' and unlike the fantasies of Ingemar Bergman and Fredrico Fellini, the values in this movie grow out of the reality we see in these characters as they reflect, maybe, some of our own tendencies.

I was genuinely astounded at the number of films in which Ms. Baye has appeared (including some late Truffout works such as `Day for Night'). It made me look forward to the pleasures of seeing more of their work, as her performance is what elevates this from a routine comedy to something on the level of `Hannah and Her Sisters' or `When Harry Met Sally'. And yet, it has a distinctly Gallic flavor that I suspect neither Woody Allen nor Rob Reiner could ever capture (although it would be very interesting to see Woody do a parody of a French comedy.)

Probably the most endearing invention is the basic venue of a Paris beauty salon whose products and services are probably only marginally effective in making women beautiful and staving off the ravages of age. And yet, Ms. Maye, who has appeared in movies since the 1970s seems to have that ageless quality of Madame Moreau.

Terrific flick!

Good Light-Hearted Movie to Watch.......2006-09-09

I first saw this movie on cable but never had the chance to see it from the beginning to see what it was about. And it never came back on cable again so I could get the chance to see it. Coming back to school I looked forward to spending a Friday night watching rented movies after a week of school and work.
"Venus Beauty Institute" is a great movie. Ms. Marshall does a great job at examining the lives of three women who toil in a beauty parlor. Angele is cynical about love after she has experienced a lousy relationship with a guy who didn't even acknowledge her. She has been hurt by love and she becomes the aggressor. But being the aggressor doesn't exactly make her a powerful person. She has doubts as to what could have happened if she were patient. Marianne, the optimist, finds love with a widower and former pilot. Angele looks out for her because she fears that she will be hurt by this man. And Samantha is just outrageous. She flirts around but is very selective. She is unhappy with being at the institute.
Antoine observes Angele and finds himself drawn to her. Why is he drawn to her? That is what she can't understand. Love has never been fair to Angele. Her father killed her mother thinking that she had a lover behind his back. When he found there wasn't one, he turned the gun on himself. She grew up with her spinster aunts in Poitiers. Although they have their cynicisms about men, they are still optimistic about men. Angele is fearful of love and being loved.
Antoine, a young man finds this woman attractive and full of life despite her misery. He looks from a distance at her in the salon she works at. He tells her that he loves her and knows how much in love with her he is. He brings out her inner beauty and allows for her to feel joyful.
I loved the scene with Marianne and her beau making love. It was a movie in itself because Angele and Antoine were enthralled to explore their passion for each other rather than break up the affair with them. This movie does have some quirkiness to it. Madame Buisse appears naked to have her daily tanning, a married woman who comes into the salon because her husband wants her to look a certain way for him, and Sam's replacement who tries to turn the salon into a department store.
This is a movie that women can enjoy in a group or by themselves. I would definitely watch this movie the second time around. This movie is a lesson in love--it can hurt as well as heal.

An Unknown Gem - Surprisingly Well Done!.......2006-05-16

I got this movie because it stars Nathalie Baye and expected it to be a light hearted romantic comedy (i.e. a chick flick) based on the cover photo and the text on the back of the case. That will teach me to never judge a book by it's cover. I was VERY pleasantly surprised upon watching it, this film has considerable depth and complexity. The story is about a woman (Nathalie Baye) who works as a beautician and who is looking for love. She was crushed by a previous relationship and now carries many scars. She refuses to emotionally commit herself to another relationship, prefering instead to pursue short lived affairs with no attachments, although deep inside she would like to find someone, even if she won't admit it to herself. Her life changes dramatically when a man comes up to her from out of the blue and expresses his undying love. He is currently engaged to another woman who loves him deeply, but he is so profoundly attracted to Baye's character that he will leave her. This may sound like some bizarre, confused love triangle, but in fact this film is extremely well done. The pacing of the story is perfect, and the complexities of the emotions and the characters are on full display without being melodramatic in any way. There are a few side plots in this film (Audrey Tautou's relationship with an older man), some of which enhance the story and some of which are a pointless distraction (the woman who comes to the salon to tan in the nude). There is a realism in this film (and French films of this genre in general) that is totally lacking in comparable American films. We can feel and sympathize with Nathalie Baye's fear and anguish about committing herself again. This is not Baye's best performance (Le Retour de Martin Guerre), but she is still outstanding, one of the world's best actresses. I would rate this film as 4.5 stars if I could, rounding up to 5. If you are new to French cinema, this would be a great film to start with. If you are a connisseur of French cinema or Nathalie Baye, this is a must have. An (unexpectedly) outstanding film.

Love Audrey.......2006-01-21

Although Audrey did well as usual, this movie was just okay with me. Had its moments of romance, but could have been better.

When you smile I find you handsome.......2004-11-03

This isn't a bittersweet romance movie. Instead, it's a bittersweet romance-in-the-making. Nathalie Baye shines as the center of a trio of beauticians who struggle to find love. It lacks the warmth of a really dynamic look at love, but it is pretty and sometimes heartwarming.

Angèle (Nathalie Baye) is about forty, and works at a pink, perfumed beauty salon where women and men alike come for skin care, tans and massages. Because of a lover's scarred face, she has sworn off love. Now all she wants are flings and one-night stands, out of fear that her heart will be broken.

But one day she is dumped nastily, and a sculptor named Antoine (Samuel Le Bihan) sees everything. Despite being engaged, he falls in love with Angèle. But the love-wary Angèle pushes him away, and he pursues her even so, determined to break down her defenses and make her see how much he loves her.

Tonie Marshall does a fairly good job with a film that looks at love, beauty, and the bitterness that can keep potential love away. It's definitely a unique story, with a beautiful older woman finding love again, but without age jokes or painless romances. It has false starts, misunderstandings, awkwardness and mistakes -- like love.

Marshall's film does have some flaws, however. Jacques (Jacques Bonnaffe) is Angèle's ex, the guy who has some scarring on his face. They're not particularly bad scars, but the characters act as if he need to wear a half-mask and haunt the Paris Opera House. That superficiality seems reflected in the pretty, shallow look of the salon.

But the love stories are quite sweet, including two younger women, one a tough girl and one a sensitive sweetie. Though Angèle originally sees love as an enslavement, the movie doesn't see it that way. In here, love is an emotion that can change your life -- it's not enslavement, and it's not perfection. But it can bring happiness.

Baye does an excellent job as the embittered Angèle, whose fear of love comes from shooting her ex. She stays on the same level as the young women, who are expected to be single. Backing her up is the tough, depressed Samanthe (Mathilde Seigner), and the sweet naive Marie (Audrey Tautou), who is the mistress of a man old enough to be her dad.

Despite the picture of Tautou in the middle of the cover, this is Baye's movie. And despite the superficial, cold moments here and there, the bittersweet "Venus Beauty Institute" is worth checking out.

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