When the Cat's Away Movie Review

Chloe (Garance Clavel) wants to go on a seaside holiday but her gay roommate Michel (Olivier Py) won't accept responsibility for her sweet little black cat Gris-Gris. Madame Renee (Renee Le Calm) agrees to make a home for Gris-Gris while Chloe is away. Chloe returns to every cat lover's nightmare—Madame Renee is in despair! Chloe is lost! The rest of the movie shows Chloe's search for Gris-Gris and her subsequent discovery of her own neighborhood, which she'd known only superficially before Gris-Gris’ disappearance. My favorite of all her neighbors is Djamel (Zinedine Soualem) who never stops searching for Gris-Gris, even when it means risking his life on a roof. When teased about it, Djamel cries, which just broke me up. He's so determined and so kind and so vulnerable. Meanwhile, Chloe goes to a club in a nice dress looking for romance, but finding attention only from the nastiest of creeps. Then, Chloe believes she has found a kindred spirit in a drummer and she has a fling with him. (He can't get rid of her fast enough afterwards.) Chloe keeps looking both for Gris-Gris and for a good guy. Cat lovers won't rent this movie unless they know whether Gris-Gris makes it all the way through the picture, so the answer is, as a cat lover, I made it all the way through this delicate flick and I only cried when Djamel cried. AKA: Chacun Cherche Son Chat.

1996 (R) 91m/C FR Garance Clavel, Zinedine Soualem, Olivier Py, Renee Le Calm, Romain Duris; D: Cedric Klapisch; W: Cedric Klapisch; C: Benoit Delhomme. VHS