The Big Picture is not your average movie. It’s surprising, thought-provoking, it creeps up on you. It’s kind of haunting. I liked it.

The film is about a lawyer who abandoned his artistic ambitions long ago, and instead started a family. He suddenly finds his life falling apart in various ways, and by a strange sequence of events is presented with an opportunity to change his identity, leave his current life behind, and actually pursue his long-lost artistic dreams. It sounds corny when you just blurt it out, but in the story it all comes across quite realistically and emotionally true, and the narrative possesses a pleasing spontaneity (difficult to achieve in films) that keeps things fresh. He takes the plunge, and that’s where things really get interesting.

The French title of this movie is The Man Who Wanted To Live His Life, which is a much more appropriate and accurate (if less “sexy”) title. It hints at the deeper side of this film, which involves the main character’s repeated confrontation with this sentiment, in completely different contexts. It’s this aspect of the film that sticks with you. Most movies I see are gone for me in about 10 minutes. This film I’m still thinking about days afterward, noticing aspects I had not picked up on. I should add that the lead actor (Romain Duris) is really good in his very complex role.

I’m going to leave it at that. Netflix this one – it’s a really nice change of pace.