The Party (1980)

Not even naturally gifted Sophie Marceau and Claude Brasseur can save this film from crashing.Then only good thing I find about it is the "social character" of Parisian teen life in the early 80s. And I thought only my school mates were corny :). It was the same at chic Saint Germain des Prés :). The morals of this story are awful, the storyline is at times erratic, at others it just doesn't make any sense, but overall I wanted to turn off the TV about 20 times before it finally ended. "Marriage survives all difficulties", "men can fool around, women can do something out of spite, but they always come back to their man", .I agree with vyto34 on IMDb that "Brasseur is a most unfortunate choice for the dentist ..." in that he looks more like a gangster than a dentist & family man and so on. Brigitte Fossey is miscast as the wife of Brasseur, she's just too beautiful and intelligent for a man who seems to have no ability for anything. Pénélope's sister, precocious little blonde "Samanta" fancying François Beretton is just one of the very stupid choices this film has. One of the few "lovable" characters is Denise Grey' Poupette (the avant-garde harp playing great-grandma (??) who has all the answers), she is just stereotyped. Bernard Giraudeau is Lehman, stud German lycée teacher does what he can with the cardboard plot he's given. He did the extremely funny "Viens chez moi..." with M. Blanc, which proves he can star a brilliant comedy and also took part in "Ridicule" with Fanny Ardant. I mean, some of the actors have done great movies, in spite of this one :). By the way, in one of the most unbelievable scenes of this illogical movie, he, who is young and fit, is being held up by 2 men until, out of nowhere, Mr. Beretton sends the 2 thieves away and later hits the teacher on his face without resistance. Another of the silliest scenes is the comeuppance of Mme. Beretton and her husband's lover, and then Poupette finishes it. No sight of the police, of course. Worse of all, she did nothing her beloved husband didn't agree with. But those are the bourgeoise morals: the harlot has to suffer financial loss, but the pater familias is always welcome. The ending is particurarly devoid of meaning, but maybe "it wants to show how teenagers change of love like a t-shirt".I found this film umbearable, but have to accept it's very popular. Particularly with Americans who took French somewhere in their education. The electrical piano version of "Dreams..." (slow music) is particularly jarring, veering on mental idiocy, specially after being hammered on all through the film. Paris is nice, thou, but I guess no director can harm it :)!Watching a former Bond villain like Marceau as an early teenager with blossoming sexuality is not entirely a happy experience. Teen language and high school are interesting, but the film doesn't let us focus even on those moderately interesting topics. Instead it forces us to watch the stupid parent's fights and predictable redemption of the male figure. The only funny scene was, perhaps, the botched sex scene with Mr. Beretton and his last lover. Maybe it's just outdated.Overall... avoid it.

When I watched the film as a teenager, I was instantly falling in love with Sophie Marceau and have watched nearly all of her films later on. I was searching for the films for years, but on ebay in Germany the old VHS version always reached 40 €. But since 6 months we have both parts on DVD her in Germany and of course I bought them and still love them. The song "Dreams are my reality" had been a big hit. I think it was a No. 1 for several weeks. Every woman and man of my age know the song and nearly all men between 30 and 45 I know, get a melancholic smile on there face, when they think about Sophie Marceau in those films... Of course, there exist more intellectual scripts and from a view of the art of cinematography there are a lot of better films, but less that makes you feel so good.

A bit of my youth. Always feel a bit nostalgic watching this. 6 or 7 /10 for the film, 10/10 for the nostalgic part of me.Sing with me people :Met you by surprise, I didn't realize that my life would change forever Saw you standing there, I didn't know I cared there was something special in the air Dreams are my reality, the only kind of real fantasy Illusions are a common thing I try to live in dreams It seems as if it's meant to be Dreams are my reality, a different kind of reality I dream of loving in the night And loving seems alright Although it's only fantasy If you do exist, honey don't resist show me a new way of loving Tell me that it's true, show me what to do I feel something special about you Dreams are my reality, the only kind of reality may be my foolishness has past And may be now at last I'll see how a real thing can be Dreams are my reality, a wonderous world where I like to be I dream of holding you all night and holding you seems right perhaps that's my reality Met you by surprise, I didn't realize that my life would change forever Tell me that it's true, feelings that are cue I feel something special about you Dreams are my reality, a wonderous world where I like to be Illusions are a common thing I try to live in dreams although it's only fantasy Dreams are my reality, I like to dream of you close to me I dream of loving in the night and loving you seems right Perhaps that's my reality

Well, I can only say that this movie perfectly shows growing up and teenage-problems, without 'big dramas' and such things. Plus, I have to give compliments to Vic (Sophie Marceau). Besides she's pretty, she also acts quite good. This is a movie that I've seen about 100 times, and it still didn't bore me.