One of my all time favorites.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

At the close of this movie I half expected the name Roman Polanski might appear. Many of the under-explored themes and situations bring to mind vague occult aspects from several of his works. First and foremost is the promise of a ghostly re-appearance by the dead son of two French movie actors. They've received letters from their son following his suicide - instructing both to meet in Death Valley USA at specific times - where he will mysteriously reveal himself to them one last time (If not yet seen and you don't want to know anything about it there may be some minor spoilers following...) On the way to this event there are some bizarre happenings. The disturbing vision of a deformed girl in the middle of the night talking about death. A Wolf's (or Dog's) mutilated head in a bag, left in a toilet block. None of these situations are further explored - they just seem to happen for the sake of it. Cultists and film study groups will have a field day 'making-up' theories on the hidden deep and 'meaningful' messages.Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert give strong performances playing their own 'names sake's' and Cinematographer Christophe Offenstein bathes it in glossy images. The haunting minimalist music by Charles Avers is effective and it's disappointing to find the composer's name not included on this IMDb listing (trust this may be remedied). Director/Writer Guillaume Nicloux seems bent on being the replacement for Polanski and nearly bores the viewer to death with endlessly-long walking shots of his stars going somewhere or nowhere. Sometimes it's mildly compelling but ultimately empty.If you're into talkie supernatural themes or questions without answers you may find comfort here, otherwise be warned...

"Valley of Death" (2015 release from France; 94 min.) brings the story of Isabelle and Gerard. As the movie opens, we see Isabelle walking through a resort, suitcase-on-wheels in tow, and checking in her room. The next day or so, Gerard also checks in, and soon we understand that they area a long-divorced couple who are mourning the suicide of their 31 yr. old son Michael. In his suicide note, Michael invites his parents to be in Death Valley on November 12, 2014, where he promises to see them again. At this point we are 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: while Isabelle Huppert and Gerard Depardieu have been in movies together before, it's been decades since the last time. Here they play a fictional version of themselves (at one point, a guest in the resort tells Gerard, 'hey I recognize you, what movie were you in again? do you mind giving me an autograph?", which Gerard signs as "Robert de Niro", ha!). Isabelle and Gerard (the movie characters) have not seen each other in YEARS, and now struggle to understand their son's death, and why they are in Death Valley anyway. Will Michael appear, as he promised? (I won't spoil....) Meanwhile, Isabelle and Gerad talk, and talk some more, and then yet some more. At least the photography (filmed in Death Valley) is eye candy from start to finish. Which is more than we can say about Depardieu, grossly overweight (and has been for years), shown way too many times with far too little clothing. I had the good fortune of visiting Death Valley a few years back, and was surprised how beautiful it was, truly a memorable visit and I'd readily recommend you do it if you have the chance (I did it as a day-long trip from Vegas, which is 2 hours away)."Valley Of Love" premiered at the 2015 Cannes film festival. I can't recall whether it ever received a release in US theaters (and if it did, it bypassed Cincinnati). But I saw it at my local library the other day and immediately picked it up. The movie was okay, not great, not bad. The movie's entire raison d'être is to watch these giants of French cinema act together. For that alone, I'd have to give 7 or 8 stars, but alas, I can't as the underlying story is paper-thin. Even "Huppert" and "Depardieu" (as they are billed in the credits) can only do so much with the little material they are given here.

This is a strange movieA divorced couple gets letters from their son who committed suicide. When the son was 7 the mother left the family, never to see the son again and the father then put him in a boarding school, to see him rarely.They both get instructions to go to death valley and do some sight seeing together, then the son will appear to them once more he writes. This is however only a side element of the movie, the real thing is the interaction between the couple: The very huge Gerard Depardieu and the fragile Isabelle Huppert who came together on the screen 35 years ago, when they were still attractive, in the movie Loulou.The movie has some very memorable quotes that may or may not refer to the lives of the actorsGD: I have become fat IH: Well as long as you feel good GD: (irritated) do you think I feel good about itandGD: do you still love me IH: When you do not still love someone you were married to you never loved him anywayThe dull Americans with their fake smiles probably gives an idea how they think about Americans. The dead dog head in the toilet makes you wonder what the reference is.Al these moments make the movie very worthwhile, the reappearance of the son is only an excuse for the film. I found I wasn't so much wondering about if the son would really appear or not. I was much more fascinated by the odd moments, dialogs and the confrontation of the couple and how they have difficulty to talk about their personal problems.It is not a shockingly good movie but very fascinating

This is a very simple - in some ways - and sad movie. A long-divorced couple learn of the suicide of their son, with whom they have been out of contact for years. He sends them each a letter, asking them to spend a week together at different sites in Death Valley (yes, in the U.S.), with the promise that he will appear to one of them.They meet. They encounter a few dull Americans. They spend a lot of time out in the desert. Lots of old dirty laundry gets aired. The end makes no sense.When I was walking out of the theater in the small Breton town where I saw this movie - fewer that 10 people had showed up to see it -the usher told me that it was based on the story of the death of Gérard Depardieu's son, Guillaume, and that Guillaume had been his son by Isabelle Hupert. Not true. Guillaume was Depardieu's son by his first wife, Elisabeth, and he did not commit suicide. Nor, as far as I know, was he gay. So much for instant legend.What was good, indeed very good about this movie was the acting by the two principals. They are both first-rate actors, and they do wonders with what is often not first-rate dialogue.For what it's worth, it's also interesting to see them as they are now, with NO makeup or attempt to hide what time has done to two formerly very handsome/beautiful individuals. Depardieu has become downright enormous, and not in a good way. He looks downright pitiful in shorts.There is also some beautiful landscape shots of Death Valley.Not a movie I would see twice, at least in the theater. But not a movie to overlook, either.