Up for Love

I watched Up for Love while nursing a glass of lukewarm Chardonnay and trying to ignore a fly that had been trapped in my living room for three days. There is something inherently French about the experience of watching a high-concept rom-com while feeling slightly annoyed by a minor household inconvenience. But within ten minutes, the fly was forgotten. I was too busy trying to figure out if I was supposed to be charmed or deeply uncomfortable by the sight of Jean Dujardin—the man who won an Oscar for being the most dashing person in the room in The Artist—being digitally shrunk to the size of a primary school student.

The premise is pure "high-concept" cinema: Diane (Virginie Efira), a gorgeous, successful lawyer, loses her phone. It’s found by Alexandre (Jean Dujardin), who sounds like the reincarnation of Cary Grant over the phone. When they finally meet, she’s looking for a tall glass of water; instead, she finds a man who stands 4’ 6” tall. From there, the film navigates the standard beats of a romantic comedy, but with a literal perspective shift that forces the audience to confront their own biases about what a "leading man" is supposed to look like.

The Magic and the "Uncanny Valley"

The most striking thing about Up for Love (originally Un homme à la hauteur) is the technical audacity of its era. Released in 2016, it sits right in that pocket where digital de-aging and scaling were becoming seamless but still felt a little... off. To turn the 6-foot-tall Jean Dujardin into Alexandre, director Laurent Tirard (known for Little Nicholas) used a mix of green screens, forced perspective, and digital shrinking.

There are moments where it works beautifully, but let’s be honest: It looks a little like a weird fever dream in some shots. Sometimes Alexandre’s head seems just a fraction too large for his body, or his movements don't quite sync with the floor. It reminded me of the "Hobbit-vision" from Lord of the Rings, but applied to a chic Parisian apartment. Despite the technical wobbles, there is a playful energy to the camerawork. Tirard uses the height difference for visual gags—like the oversized dog that nearly tackles Alexandre or the comically high bar stools—but he (mostly) manages to keep the tone from dipping into mean-spirited slapstick.

A Chemistry That Defies Physics

If this movie had been cast with anyone else, it might have collapsed under the weight of its own gimmick. But Virginie Efira is, quite frankly, a powerhouse. She has this incredible ability to look at someone with a mixture of adoration and genuine internal conflict. Watching her Diane struggle with "what the neighbors will think" while clearly falling for Alexandre’s wit is the engine that keeps the movie running.

Then there’s Jean Dujardin. Even at a digital 4' 6", he radiates a level of charisma that should be illegal. He doesn't play Alexandre as a victim or a caricature; he plays him as a man who is smarter, richer, and more confident than anyone else in the room. He carries the role with a swagger that makes you understand exactly why Diane would risk the social awkwardness. Their chemistry is the reason the film survives its more predictable plot points, like the inevitable "climax at an airport" or the "misunderstanding at a dinner party" involving her grumpy ex-partner, Bruno (Cédric Kahn).

The Elephant in the Room: Representation

As a reviewer in the current era, it’s impossible to ignore the conversation surrounding this film's casting. In 2016, we were just starting to see a more vocal demand for authentic representation. Why cast a tall man and shrink him with computers when there are talented actors with dwarfism who could have brought a lived-in reality to the role?

It’s a fair critique, and it hangs over the film like a cloud. By using Dujardin, the movie feels like it’s pulling its punches. It treats Alexandre’s height as a "special effect" rather than a human trait. While the film is a remake of the 2013 Argentine hit Corazón de León, it misses an opportunity to do something truly groundbreaking. Instead, it plays it safe, relying on Dujardin’s massive star power to sell tickets. It’s a classic example of a contemporary film caught between old-school studio "star-casting" and the burgeoning social consciousness of the mid-2010s.

Turns out, Jean Dujardin spent a significant portion of the shoot on his knees or standing in trenches dug into the floor to achieve the height difference before the CGI teams took over. It’s a lot of physical effort for a film that ultimately wants to be a light, fluffy dessert.

Up for Love is a charming, if slightly flawed, curiosity of modern French cinema. It’s the kind of movie you find on a streaming service on a rainy Tuesday and end up watching all the way through because the leads are just so damn likable. It doesn't quite have the courage of its convictions to be a deep dive into the politics of disability or social prejudice, but as a breezy rom-com about looking past the obvious, it hits its marks. If you can get past the occasionally wonky CGI, you’ll find a sweet story about two people trying to find their level in a world that’s obsessed with scale.