Aux petits bonheurs (1994) - film review

Three couples share a large house in the country, along with Cécile, a babysitter, and Hélène, their guest.  The relationships between these disparate individuals are far from straightforward.  Pierre has been faithful to his wife Ariane, but she has been pursing an affair with Matthieu, who is married to Sabine.  Lena is married to Bertrand, but, in his absence, she has taken a young lover, Marc.  She also has a son, Michel.  Hélène returned to the house in the hope of finding the man she fell in love with 25 years ago.

The charm of this romantic comedy owes as much to the contributions from its superlative cast as to its direction and scripting.  One of Michel Deville’s most accessible films (although, surprisingly, not a commercial success), Aux petits bonheurs offers a quintessentially French look at male-female relationships, largely from the jaundiced perspective of encroaching middle-age.  With its quirky humour and playful narrative, the film manages to be entertaining as well as offering an honest, slightly poignant, reflection on mid-life crisis.  Neither outright comedy nor serious drama, the film fails to be entirely satisfying, and some of the exposition feels rather sloppy (for example, the presence of the piano-playing babysitter).  However, the film does have much to commend it – in particular, the exemplary tragicomic performances from Anémone and Hanna Schygulla.

© James Travers 2004

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