18 ans après (2003) - film review

Having turned 18, Marie agrees to spend her summer holidays with her mother, who has just returned from America with her husband and two sons.  The ménage is completed by Marie’s three “adopted” fathers – Michel, Jacques and Pierre.  The uncomfortable family reunion is tainted by Marie’s first bitter-sweet encounter with love.

The long-awaited sequel to the 1985 hit Trois hommes et un couffin is a disappointment at virtually every level.  Lacking the spontaneity, depth of characterisation, artistic flair and sophisticated fun of the original film, 18 ans après resembles more a low-budget, hastily cobbled together TV movie from a trainee film crew.  Lacking any kind of coherent narrative, with too many incidental characters, the film takes a while to capture the spectator’s interest – and by then, the film is virtually over.   It is a rare misfire for Coline Serreau, one of France’s most gifted and respected female film directors.

© James Travers 2006

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