Like a French champagne that isn’t really from France, “Apres Vous” is a less-sparkly imitation of a classic form.
| Formulaic: A French comedy from the formula stomped into the ground over the years: Mismatched buddies get themselves in trouble, this time at a high-tone bistro. Daniel Auteuil and Sandrine Kiberlain redeem some of the overcooked material. (In French, with English subtitles.)
Rated: R rating is for subject matter. Now showing: tk |
Oh, this movie is authentically French, all right. But it follows a formula – the mismatched buddy comedy – that French filmmakers have pretty well stomped into the groundover the last few years.
Here’s the setup. Antoine is a maitre d’ at a fine bistro. He’s always got everything in order, he always know how to take care of his customers’ problems.
One night in a public park, he stumbles across a man, Louis, who’s about to hang himself. Antoine stops him, but now feels responsible – it’s not enough to save a life, he has to give Louis a new reason for living.
This leads to Louis getting hired as the sommelier at the bistro, even though he knows almost nothing about wine. All right, you can see the possibilities there.
But Antoine has to keep going. Louis was bent on suicide because he lost his girlfriend, Blanche. So Antoine determines to meet Blanche and somehow dissuade her from marrying her new beau, which of course must send her back to Louis.
This can only lead to disaster, in a whole variety of ways. And some of these ways are funny, mildly. Certainly Louis’ job interview at the bistro generates some yaks as he fumbles through his ineptly memorized knowledge of wine.
But overall, both Antoine and Louis are so exasperating as characters that their behavior is still irritating long after the charm has worn off. The world doesn’t conspire to give them problems; they bring problems on themselves.
In a movie like this, the cast can redeem a lot. Jose Garcia is a bit one-note as Louis, but the reliable Daniel Auteuil squeezes the most he can out of Antoine. You can believe this guy is a maitre d’ at a fussy restaurant.
Sandrine Kiberlain plays Blanche. I will watch anything with Sandrine Kiberlain in it; so the movie gets points just for that. A tall, blond actress, Kiberlain looks like a giraffe that became a human somehow, and she has a poker-faced delivery that makes her a natural comedian, even when she’s playing straight roles.
Director Pierre Salvadori is like the maitre d’ of the movie: He has to keep everything in smooth running order while keeping the patrons happy. I found most of the menu overcooked, but the meal does move along.
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