In Europe, director Claude Lelouch is famous for a commercial touch dating back to 1966’s Oscar-winning “A Man and a Woman.” Critics have been less enchanted.
However, Lelouch has been getting some good reviews for his latest in a 50-year career, “Roman de Gare.” And, for the most part, the reviews are earned — this is a piffle, but a fun one.
The movie has a clever set-up that initially marks it as a puzzle movie. Not to go into too much detail here, but let’s just say that a man (Dominique Pinon) driving through southern France meets a woman (Audrey Dana) who’s just been left at a freeway rest stop by her boyfriend.
She’s going home to stay with family, and she has a peculiar question for this stranger — would he impersonate the boyfriend, just for a day, in front of the family?
This is an amusing thread all by itself. But who, exactly, is the famous novelist (Fanny Ardant) we meet in the opening sequence, and what is the man’s connection to her?
Like many of Lelouch’s films, this one is easy on the eyes (we spend part of the picture on a yacht in the Mediterranean). It might not cut deep, but the clever set-up, which leads us to believe certain things about the characters, is wicked enough to keep you guessing.
Lelouch can’t sustain it through to the end, though the movie has a secret weapon in its three main actors. Fanny Ardant is French movie royalty, and the role of the elegant, lofty author fit her like a glove.
It’s all the more impressive that a newcomer, Audrey Dana, holds her own in a major role. She’s completely believable as an exasperated Everywoman who’s just trying to hold it together, and making plenty of mistakes along the way.
But the film really belongs to Dominique Pinon. If you’ve seen “Delicatessen,” “City of Lost Children” or “Amelie,” you might be getting a mental picture of the diminutive, gremlin-faced Pinon. He’s a wonderful talent with (how shall we say this?) offbeat looks, and in the States we haven’t seen him in too many normal-person roles.
He comes through like gangbusters here, mysterious and appealing. He’s a key reason this slight confection works.
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