La Guerre est déclarée/Declaration of War

The idea of this film stems from the personal experiences of the two main actors also being the writers and directors of this film, namely Valérie Donzelli and Jérémie Elkaïm.

In the film their names are Roméo and Juliette and already here, we began to wonder if this was a comedy or not and we are still wondering.
On IMDb it's described as a "drama" and on Allociné's site: "Comédie dramatique" ("Drama comedy").
Unfortunately the drama disappears in the mix of styles: Overdramatic acting (people falling to the ground, screaming like hysterics); some comical parts (not to overtly comical) and a scene when the couple is singing a song together, though being in separate places, something that seldom work out well, if it's not a musical. In this case we perceived it as a bizarre and superfluous ingredient.
The two protagonists meet and fall in love at once, later on leading to the birth of a son.
The happiness is total (as with most people in the beginning of their parenthood) but after a while they realize that their child's constant crying is not a fully 'normal' (whatever this is) behaviour wherefore they consult a doctor.
At first there are no special signs of anomalies but gradually the examinations show a sort of asymmetry in the boy's face and this leads eventually to a more thorough examination revealing that he has a tumour (mesothelioma).
Initially the doctors say that it's benign but later on in the process we get to know that it's actually a malign one.

We follow Roméo and Juliet's struggle to find the truth about their son's disease, the eventual cures, the quest for the best doctors etc etc.
Besides them we also meet a group of people taking part in their struggle, namely Claudia (Brigitte Sy), Romeo's mother, her wife Alex (Elina Löwensohn), Juliette's parents Geneviève (Michèle Moretti) and Philippe (Philippe Laudenbach) and a couple of friends.

The subject matter of this film is very important, not least as the two actors themselves have gone through a crisis like this but unfortunately the film didn't seize our attention to the degree it could or should have done.
This in part related to the above mentioned mix of styles, and sometimes exaggerated acting, turning it into a parodic more than comic film, according to us.
Neither did it make us laugh nor cry but in Cannes it got a ten minute standing ovation!

"Smaken är som baken (delad)" as one says in Swedish: "The taste is like the bottom (divided)".

(Photo of the laughing 'Romeo' and 'Juliet' copied from: http://www.madiana.ws/var/ezwebin_site/storage/images/media/declaree/30028-1-eng-GB/Declaree.jpg)
(Photo 'Romeo' and 'Juliet' kissing copied from: http://www.lapageculture.com/files/2011/09/la-guerre-est-declaree.jpg)

(Photo of 'Romeo' and 'Juliet' with child copied from: http://nicolinux.fr/wp-content/2011/09/elka%C3%AFm-la-guerre-est-declaree.jpg)

(Photo 'Juliet' copied from: http://www.yeca.fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/val%C3%A9rie.jpg)