Kings and Queen (2004)

I was expecting rather more from this French ensemble drama, which like life itself was a mixture of mysterious events, madcap interludes, long dreary patches, and ultimately self-interest, but I found it all strangely uninvolving.  The film focuses on two main characters: a single mother about to marry her third "husband" (she was not actually wed to the first two, although she somehow managed to marry the first one after his death -- they have some strange procedures in France) and a musician who has been committed to a mental institution by his family.  She is preoccupied for most of the film with her dying father in Switzerland and he works at enchanting the other inmates and staff before his release.  We eventually learn that the two lived together for seven years and that she (for some reason) wants him to adopt her 10-year-old son by her first "husband".  Not a lot turns out as one might have hoped or expected and the only shocking revelation is the dying father's secret thoughts about his beloved daughter.  I can see others being more enchanted with all of this, but I found neither of the two main leads to possess overly great appeal.