''Happily Ever After'' (french: Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants; Translation: ''They married and had many children'') is a 2004 French comedy drama film. The film is written and directed by

Yvan Attal Yvan is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Jacques-Yvan Morin, GOQ (born 1931), politician in Quebec, Canada *Marc-Yvan Côté (born 1947), former Quebec politician and Cabinet Minister for the Quebec Liberal Party *Maurice-Yvan S ...

, produced by

Claude Berri Claude Berri (; 1 July 1934 – 12 January 2009) was a French film director, writer, producer, actor and distributor. Early life Born Claude Beri Langmann in Paris, Berri was the son of Jewish immigrant parents. His mother, Beila (née Bercu), w ...

, and starring

Charlotte Gainsbourg Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (; born 21 July 1971) is a British-French actress and singer. She is the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French musician Serge Gainsbourg. After making her musical debut with her father on the song " Lemo ...

and Yvan Attal. It was released in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

in North America. For English-speaking audiences, the film is highly recognizable for the lengthy cameo appearance of Johnny Depp, who speaks fluent French. The soundtrack also features Radiohead.

Plot

''Happily Ever After'' dissects the viability of

fidelity Fidelity is the quality of faithfulness or loyalty. Its original meaning regarded duty in a broader sense than the related concept of ''fealty''. Both derive from the Latin word ''fidēlis'', meaning "faithful or loyal". In the City of London fin ...

via the story of three buddies and their tumultuous relationships with the opposite sex. The film opens with the central characters, Vincent (

) and Gabrielle (

) capriciously flirting in a bar. Vincent appears to win the affection of Gabrielle over many other potential courters, but the entire exercise is a ruse; they are actually married with a child. The rest of the film explores the nature of romance, marriage, happiness, expectations in life, how love and sex interrelate, and ultimately, why no one can feel fulfilled.

Cast

as Gabrielle *

as Vincent * Alain Chabat as Georges *

Emmanuelle Seigner Emmanuelle Seigner (born 22 June 1966) is a French former fashion model, singer, and actress. She is known for her roles in '' The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'' (2007), '' The Ninth Gate'' (1999) and '' Frantic'' (1988). She has been nominat ...

as Nathalie * Alain Cohen as Frédéric * Ben Attal as Joseph * Angie David as the mistress *

Aurore Clément Aurore Clément (born 12 October 1945) is a French actress who has appeared in French and English language movies and television productions. Early life She was born Marie-Thérèse Aurore Louise Clément in Soissons. Following the death of her ...

as the mistress's mother *

Anouk Aimée Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (born 27 April 1932), known professionally as Anouk Aimée () or Anouk, is a French film actress, who has appeared in 70 films since 1947, having begun her film career at age 14. In her early years, she studi ...

as Vincent's mother *

as Vincent's father *

Nicolas Vaude Nicolas Vaude (born 24 July 1962) is a French actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, ra ...

as The disgruntled viewer * Johnny Depp as L'inconnu *

Luis Saguar Luis Saguar (October 6, 1957 – July 8, 2009) was an American writer, professor and actor in theater and films. Saguar played characters as diverse as wise elders, terrifying addicts, and strange sidekicks. He was also co-founder of Campo Santo, ...

as Casper.

Reception

Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film a 57% approval rating based on 42 reviews, with an

average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 6.01/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Though this French film features good acting, it lacks the wit and charm one would expect to see."

References

External links

* * * 2004 films 2004 comedy-drama films Films directed by Yvan Attal Films produced by Claude Berri 2000s French-language films 2000s Italian-language films 2000s English-language films French comedy-drama films 2004 multilingual films French multilingual films 2000s French films {{2000s-comedy-drama-film-stub