French-Corsican director Pierre Salvadori is something akin to the Nora Ephron of the Hexagon, having carved out an unlikely career in the intense and emotionally charged arena of French cinema through the medium of the romcom. Best known for Cible émouvante (remade as Wild Target with Emily Blunt and Bill Nighy last year) and the wonderful Hors de prix/Priceless, here he reunites with Priceless star Audrey Tautou in his latest love letter to the comédie romantique.
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| That wile Wally was just nowhere to be seen |
Tautou is Émilie, a hairdresser living on the sun-kissed coast and dealing with her morose mother, Maddy (Nathalie Baye). After years acting as a muse to her sculptor husband, Maddy was heartbroken when he, in true Gallic style, left her for a younger woman, and four years on, she still hasn’t moved on with her life, clinging to the hope that Émilie’s father will return to the family home. Meanwhile, at the salon, literature loving handyman Jean (Sami Bouajila), his own past somewhat chequered, clandestinely carries a flame for Émilie, and writes her an anonymous love letter proclaiming the deep desire that burns inside at the very sight of her. Émilie, desperate to shake her mother out of the rut she’s in, hastily decides to send the letter to her maman instead, sparking off an unforeseen love triangle highlighting the subtle dangers of epistolary engagements.
The script, also written by Salvadori, offers occasional moments of comic delight, particularly in a sequence where Maddy introduces herself to Jean in the middle of the salon, coquettishly trying to tease her name from his indifferent lips. But more often than not this romp falls flat, all very pleasant but not particularly amusing. Tautou, charming as ever, makes the most out of her rather unsympathetic role, as Émilie’s choices, right from the pre-title scene and throughout the film, are far from endearing. That we like her at all is probably something to do with the residual wide-eyed joy of Mlle Poulain. Baye’s Maddy is a delight as her secret suitor relights her fire for love and joie de vivre, but an ill-advised third act twist involving all three leads seems rather at odds with the rest of the film, and sadly spoils most of the fun from the build-up.
A little bit lacking in the ooh la la.
3 Likes
Limited Release: August 12
Runtime: 105 mins
Certificate: 12A
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