5 To 7

Film (2014)

With Anton Yelchin (Brian), Bérénice Marlohe (Arielle), Olivia Thirlby (Jane), Lambert Wilson (Valery), Glenn Close (Arlene), Frank Langella (Sam), Eric Stoltz (Galassi)

Brian (Anton Yelchin), a young writer, sees Arielle (Bérénice Marlohe) across the street, and, struck by her, strikes up a conversation. Eventually things develop between them and they have a liaison, but on carefully managed terms. To say too much more about the story would give away the linchpin, but, suffice it to say that this young American guy who encounters the incredibly charming and beautiful Arielle on the specified terms must pinch himself repeatedly to wake from the dream. Dreams do not always remain dreams, as the film is intent to show, but it makes a good pitch for one as long as it does last.

What an incredibly charming and lovely woman Marlohe plays, and what a highly unbelievable setup this is. The myth that drives the plot is that the French really do live like this. But, apart from the vague attempt at French amorous anthropology, this is also a fable of extraordinary proportions.

A relatively good time is had by all for much of it, until the protagonist can’t bear the rules of the game any longer.

And this, indeed, is what the film is about – rules, regulations, attempts to bind the messiness of passion within certain limits – and it makes its point with irony, some wit, and a great deal of expectation that the audience will go along with it.

A good part of the fun, in addition to the sheer Gallic romance, is the series of exotic cameos who show up along the way. Arielle and her husband, Valery (Lambert Wilson), entertain everyone who’s anyone in New York and lots of fresh faces come and go before the camera. It’s a real “Where’s Waldo?” experience to find and identify everyone. It must have been a lot of fun for the filmmakers to rope them all in and get each of them to pose for a short while.

The leads make a compelling enough pair, though one doesn’t see this as high romance but a kind of oddball whim. So when Arielle declares the singular significance of this encounter in her life, one is inclined to smile a bit. Given the mores of the characters in question, one expects that this sort of thing must have happened a few other times along the way, but the script doesn’t acknowledge that, which makes it less anthropology and more fable.

Set in New York, this Francophile romance shows up something about gritty edginess in relief against softly glowing Parisian eroticism. Imagine Andy Warhol bumping headlong into Monet and you get the jarringly contrasting vibes.

A piece of jewelry holds a certain talismanic power in this film, providing a focus in a sweet and unbelievable way. With the rules of romance written, as the film says, for engagement between 5 and 7 o’clock, it is a bit hard to swallow the emblem of that enduring bond. But, this is a romantic fable, and, meaning to break free of any rules of expectation, plays with our emotional fantasies about love, even when it is forbidden. It is poignant but unbelievable, a sweet morsel that dissolves in the wake of its delight.

As Brian, the young writer who falls for the older woman, Anton Yelchin is reflective, intense and appealing. As Arielle, Bérénice Marlohe is redolent with French charm, darkly and subtly alluring. Frank Langella (Sam) and Glenn Close (Arlene) play Brian’s parents in a delightfully nudgy way. Jane (Olivia Thirlby) becomes Brian’s friend and does it so effectively that one wonders whether she’s really the girl for him.

– BADMan