Status: 05/31/2022 3:32 p.m
The main actors and screenwriters Alexandre Jollien and Bernard Campman have staged an authentic film with few surprises, but touching moments and a lot of feather-light joie de vivre.
The 2011 French comedy ‘Pretty Best Friends’ was a smash hit. It was about the friendship of two very different men, one of whom is physically disabled. “Happiness on a scale from 1 to 10”, which is now coming to the cinemas, is similar.
PREVIEW: Trailer: “Happiness on a scale from 1 to 10” (2 min)
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An accident sparks the friendship between Igor and Louis
Predictions are always risky, but the probability that most of the audience will leave the cinema after this film with at least a smooth 9 on a scale of 10 out of 10 should be quite high.
Igor is a cheerful, physically challenged bike courier who delivers organic vegetables with orange headphones. Louis is a funeral director, a stressed-out, grumpy workaholic who overlooks the man on the bike down the country lane.
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Bernard Campman and Alexandre Jollien are not only the main actors in “Happiness on a Scale of 1 to 10”, but also directors and screenwriters.
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Louis gets out of the car and runs to Igor, who is lying on the street. Luckily, Igor isn’t seriously hurt and just decides that Louis would be the perfect new friend for him. After the accident, Igor visits him at his funeral home and tries to be close to him. The bad conscience makes Louis be more patient than usual with other people. However, he is not at all enthusiastic when Igor hides in his hearse and now inevitably takes part in a trip to the south of France. And then a young woman joins them, whose ride at the gas station has just vanished into thin air. And Igor, for example, asks the question that Louis would not utter.
Young woman: “It might be a bit indiscreet, you don’t have to answer it, but did you have an accident, right?”
Igor: “Oh, I did too many somersaults in my mother’s stomach. The umbilical cord played a trick on me and this is the result.”
Young woman: “I don’t think it’s noticeable. You seem almost normal.”
Igor: “Yeah, fast.”
Scene from “Happiness on a Scale of 1 to 10”
Heartwarming feel-good movie about a special relationship
Alexandre Jollien, a Swiss-born philosopher and author with a cerebral palsy, plays Igor, who has a suitable quote from Seneca, Montaigne or others for every occasion.
Igor: Diogenes said: in order to be free from what others think, one should drag a herring behind oneself.
Louis: A herring?
Igor: ..and go through life like that.
Louis: Sure.
Igor: the advantage is that I’m already the herring anyway. And by the way: I don’t give a fuck what other people think!
Scene from “Happiness on a Scale of 1 to 10”
Louis is initially rather embarrassed by Igor’s appearance, but little by little a special relationship develops between the two very different characters. As in “Pretty Best Friends” – only as a road movie.
Written, directed and starred by Alexandre & Jollien Bernard Campman
Bernard Campan plays Louis. The two main actors, who are also friends in real life, wrote the script together – and in doing so drew a lot of reference to the actual experiences of Alexandre Jollien, aka Igor. They staged a refreshing, authentic feel-good movie that shows few surprises, some touching moments and a lot of feather-light joie de vivre.
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