By Sandra Hall
RIVIERA REVENGE
★★★½
M. 94 minutes. In cinemas
Riviera Revenge is French cinema at its frothiest, with three of its most beloved veterans leading the dance. Sabine Azéma and André Dussollier are cast as Annie and Francois, a couple whose 50- year marriage is based on her willingness to put up with his prejudices.
Sabine Azéma and André Dussollier play a couple dealing with infidelity in Riviera Revenge.Credit:
A retired general, he’s prone to injecting military attitudes and routines into their family life, as we see during the opening scene at Annie’s birthday lunch when he junks a chorus of Happy Birthday in favour of celebrating her with his own rewritten version of the La Marseillaise.
His eldest son, Amaury (Gael Giraudeau), who has followed him into the army, cheerfully sings along, but Amaury’s siblings, Adrien (Sebastien Chassagne) and Capucine (Joséphine De Meaux) can only hang their heads and look glum.
Shortly afterwards, however, Francois’ world comes crashing down around his own head with his discovery of a bundle of love letters revealing a fling that Annie had with one of their friends 35 years earlier.
Writer-director Ivan Calbérac, who is also a playwright, came up with his script after reading a news report about a 92-year-old Sicilian who became Italy’s oldest divorcee when he split with his wife of many years after a similar revelation. Calbérac decided that an adaptation of the story could be perfect for Azéma and Dussollier, who have played husband and wife on screen no less than 10 times.
And as Boris, the third member of the love triangle, he settled on the suave Thierry Lhermitte, whose own long career has centred on his mastery of the comedy of manners.
When confronted with the letters, Annie responds with a perfect Gallic shrug and says it all happened so long ago that she can barely remember it.
Further inflamed by this display of insouciance, Francois promptly moves out of the family home, vowing vengeance on his rival, and sets down in a comically uncomfortable studio apartment where he tracks Boris down to an address in Nice.
Refusing to let him go alone, Annie insists on driving to Nice with him, and together they stake out Boris’ neighbourhood, learning that he is now a fit-looking karate teacher who rides his bike wherever he goes.
The inevitable confrontation is as explosive as you would expect, but there is a lot of fun to be had in watching the unflappable Lhermitte deal with Francois along with his realisation that he and Annie still have unfinished business together.
But it’s Francois who experiences the steepest learning curve as he’s provoked into reviewing his record as both husband and father, discovering that he knows even less about the lives of Adrien and Capucine than he does about Annie.
Some of the resulting lessons are poignant enough to elevate the film into being something more than a delightfully adroit marital farce, but you’re barely acquainted with the newly contrite and enlightened Francois when Calbérac changes direction by ending the film with a surprising but very French twist. As I said, it’s a dance.
Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.