Blind Date

Blind Date (French title: Un peu, beaucoup, aveuglément "A little, a lot, blindly") is a 2015 French romantic comedy film directed by and starring Clovis Cornillac. The film also stars Mélanie Bernier, Lilou Fogli and Philippe Duquesne. It won the audience award at the 19th annual COLCOA French Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Best First Film award at the 2015 Cabourg Film Festival. Cast Mélanie Bernier as Machine ('Whosit') Clovis Cornillac as Machin ('Whatsit') as Charlotte Philippe Duquesne as Artus Grégoire Oestermann as Evguenie Oscar Copp as Dan Boris Terral as L'inconnu italien Manu Payet as the Picard cashier Arnaud Lechien as Paul Plot summary A shy woman (Mélanie Bernier) moves into her new apartment in Paris, helped by her sister Charlotte (Lilou Fogli). She longs to be a professional pianist and has just moved out of the house of her piano teacher, Evguenie (Grégoire Oestermann). On her first night, she hears strange noises and a picture on her wall begins to move. Fearing a supernatural presence, she flees to Evguenie's house. As a teacher, Evguenie is harsh and critical, encouraging poise and technical perfection over emotion. She returns to her flat the next day and realises that the noises were caused by her neighbour — a quiet and reclusive man (Clovis Cornillac), who barely ventures outside and whose only friend is the slovenly, kind Artus (Philippe Duquesne). He explains that the wall separating their apartments is hollow and that any noise made in either place can be heard. Not wanting to be disturbed, he regularly scares new tenants away from the flat. The woman refuses to be driven away and proposes making a schedule of when each person is allowed to make noise, an idea the man rejects. The two live side-by-side, intimidating one another with increasingly creative and noisy behaviour. Eventually after the woman amplifies a metronome for several days, the man relents, and agrees to stop the hostilities and coordinate their schedules. On one occasion while she is practising Chopin's Revolutionary Etude, the man says that her playing lacks emotion, encourages her to let go of her self-consciousness, and to play the piece with real feeling. She follows his instructions, and the two become friends, talking to each other through the wall. The man nicknames her 'Machine' ('Whosit') and the woman nicknames him 'Machin' ('Whatsit').