WEDDING NIGHTMARE
With his brilliant Palm Springs, director Max Barbakow delivered one of the most entertaining and innovative reinterpretations of the time loop concept since the classic Groundhog Day. The simple idea centered on two guests doomed to relive the same wedding day repeatedly. The film, despite being produced on a modest budget, stood out for its playful direction and remarkable cast. Unfortunately, these two pivotal qualities are entirely absent in Un mariage sans fin, a soulless remake by Patrick Cassir.
From a directorial perspective, this French version resembles more of a YouTube sketch from the Studio Bagel era than a professional feature film. Everything feels stupidly illustrative and disembodied . The camera fails to convey any perspective, and the editing and pacing awkwardly attempt to inject dynamism into the narrative. Not to mention the music, which abruptly stops to highlight predictable gags , as if the creators were aware that the writing alone wouldn’t elicit even a faint smile from the audience.
When it comes to casting, it’s hard to follow in the footsteps of Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti. However, Camille Rowe makes a commendable effort to bring a sense of naturalness to the often half-hearted dialogues. Already present in the Netflix disaster Sous emprise, the Franco-American actress should likely steer clear of platform films and seek roles that match her talent.
However, the same cannot be said for Tarek Boudali. Over the years, the comedian has developed an evident comic timing and navigates the humorous sequences decently. Yet, he completely misses the more dramatic moments. His linear and superficial performance strips the protagonist of any complexity and depth.
AND IT KEEPS GOING, AND GOING
Beyond its technical failures, Un mariage sans fin is severely lacking in creative ideas . Despite its runtime of just 1 hour and 20 minutes, the film feels repetitive and tiresome. At first glance, the films appear identical in nearly every aspect – the settings, the character wardrobe, and some dialogues seem to have been directly copied by Google Translate. Yet, Patrick Cassir’s film never rises above being a bland and soulless copy .
We witness a film that imitates without grasping its source material, ultimately rendering brilliant ideas mundane . The cringe humor that thrived in the original is so poorly calibrated that it becomes embarrassing. We are uncomfortable with the film, rather than sharing in its humor. Similarly, the humor derived from repetition, essential for a successful time-loop comedy, is so underplayed that Un mariage sans fin gives the impression of quickly losing interest in its own concept.
When rare changes occur, they don’t improve the situation. For instance, the fact that Paul doesn’t even try to tell Louna not to follow him into the cave adds an egoistic dimension to the protagonist without any actual exploration of this trait. The setting of a wealthy French wedding in Morocco, which appropriates a foreign culture as a quaint curiosity, could have led to fascinating insights. Yet again, the film only gleans a handful of lukewarm jokes from this situation.
One of the few original touches that succeeds in Patrick Cassir’s film comes from the character played by Youssef Hajdi, a role originally held by J.K. Simmons in the original. Here, he appears as a more tender and desperate figure. The film delves into his family life, close connections, and ability to marvel at the magic of the everyday . His sequences are possibly the only moments where Un mariage sans fin seems to have something meaningful to convey.
AND WHAT’S THE POINT?
One of the triumphs of Palm Springs was its thematic richness . More than just honest entertainment, Barbakow’s film offered compelling reflections on marriage, the degradation of human relationships, nihilism, societal hypocrisy, and many other themes. In merely attempting to replicate the comedic aspect without reflecting on its message, Un mariage sans fin condemns itself to be a profoundly hollow reinterpretation .
In Cassir’s film, both protagonists remain disembodied stereotypes . The French director seems not to understand that quoting Céline in a dialogue isn’t enough to establish a character’s psychological complexity. Furthermore, Paul and Louna don’t learn anything from their experience. Everything is so trivial that we perceive no significant character evolution .
The film’s opening hints at a somewhat literal form of reflection with the use of a bittersweet voice-over reminiscent of Bref. While nothing revolutionary, it was a promising start. However, the idea is quickly abandoned by the next scene and never revisited. It’s as if Paul stops contemplating once the narrative kicks in. Thus, we exit the film with the unpleasant impression that none of this mattered .
The most dreadful aspect of this project is that Un mariage sans fin is profoundly useless. Of course, one might argue that art doesn’t need to be useful. Yet, the film would have to aspire to be an artistic work for that to hold any weight. Instead, we just have a movie whose only reason for existence is to create content as well as watch time. There’s no passion, no personality, nothing but repetition. It is the audience that ends up trapped in a hellish time loop .
Un mariage sans fin is available on Amazon Prime Video since May 30, 2025.
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