To give it it's original French title, La Fille de Monaco stars one of my favorite French actors at the moment, Fabrice Luchini who plays a famous Parisian lawyer Bertrand Beauvois on a case in Monaco for a rich son trying to get his mother off a murder charge. However as the trial begins the Beauvois becomes distracted by a beautiful woman who sees him as her ticket to fame by filming a documentary all about the softer side of the famously tough lawyer. Beauvois is given a bodyguard by his client who ends up saving his new boss from making a complete fool of himself with this new vixen Audrey played with a certain madness by Louise Bourgoin. So you think, well that's all very well and sounds like an easy enough plot to follow, just some easy going comedic high-jinks right? Well yes, sort of. The fact is The Girl From Monaco never really hits it's stride, instead it feels like a series of often very funny scenes strung together to form a movie. The whole trial which is the backbone of the plot is verging on irrelevant to the film, never engaging the audience in either the characters involved or the outcome. So you think, well OK, so I am meant to be concentrating on the parallel storyline about Beauvois and his fling with Audrey and how Christophe the body guard can somehow save the day ... right? Again this is fine but Audrey is such an unsympathetic character with so few redeeming features you end up spending the majority of the film wishing he would forget all about her and get on with the trial!
Watching the trailer and seeing the promo poster you could be forgiven for thinking the movie is about how the bodyguard's way with women somehow teaches his boss new tricks. However this applies to only one very small part of the movie near the beginning and then has nothing to do with the rest of the story. See what I mean? If you want cohesion look elsewhere for as far as plot goes this film has lost it.
With my grumbles fully expressed it's time to tell you why you should see this film (yes, you really should!). I am a big fan of modern French cinema and have loved Daniel Auteuil for years watching anything he is in without knowing anything at all about the film. Well Fabrice Luchini is my new Daniel Auteuil. This actor has a presence on screen that keeps your attention no matter what is happening even in a film as trivial as this one. His delivery of lines is an absolute pleasure for the ears and while this may sound over the top, listening to Luchini I was genuinely reminded of the joy that dialogue holds for me whenever I watch Rappeneu's Cyrano De Bergerac.
I guess there are a few other reasons to watch The Girl from Monaco, the scenery is pretty easy on the eye and Roschdy Zem plays Christophe well (coincidentally he had a small role in London River which i caught at TIFF last week) but really you should go and see Luchini play his part to absolute perfection. It's a classic example of how a great actor can make an average film seem so much better.
Rating: ***
P.S Anne Fontaine who directed The Girl from Monaco also helmed the new Chanel movie Coco Avant Chanel starring Audrey Tautou which going is on limited US release this week.
0 comments:
Post a Comment