Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: George Clooney irresistible for his reunion with the Coen brothers.
We tend to forget it a bit in recent years and a few commercials for a famous coffee brand, but George Clooney is a damn good actor. And if there is a register where he is truly at ease, it is that of comedy. The proof with the excellent Intolerable Cruelty by the Coen brothers, released in theaters in 2003 and broadcast this Sunday evening by Arte.
In Intolerable Cruelty, George Clooney, a very good comedy actor but who didn’t really laugh at a Brad Pitt joke, plays Miles Massey, the lawyer you get when you want a divorce. He is bored in his work, but will soon find a case suitable for him and see a woman stand in his way, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, determined to take revenge on him. Between them then begins a match where anything goes.
Often hilarious, Intolerable Cruelty is a fierce and exhilarating romantic comedy that deals with the war of the sexes. A sassy and elegant film, superbly written, to which Joel and Ethan Coen wanted to add a glamorous dimension. “It’s the most glamorous film we’ve ever made!”declare the two brothers. “For us it was about trying something different, but without losing any of our identity.”
A funny anecdote to conclude? With Intolerable Cruelty, George Clooney, who reunites with the Coen brothers after the unpayable O’Brother, plays a scene almost identical to one of his previous films. The restaurant table where he courts Catherine Zeta-Jones is in fact the same one, in the same restaurant, where he tries to seduce Julia Roberts in Ocean’s Eleven!
Tonight on Arte at 9 p.m.
The trailer for the Netflix film “Midnight in the Universe”, with George Clooney: