Changement d’adresse (2006) - film review

Recently arrived in Paris, young musician David is looking for a place to stay when he runs into Anne, who is desperate for someone to share her apartment.  David gladly moves in with Anne, on the understanding that there should be no emotional consequences, since Anne has already set her heart on another man.  To supplement his income, David starts to give music lessons, but immediately falls in love with one of his pupils, a withdrawn girl named Julia.  On Anne’s advice, David takes Julia away for a holiday by the coast, but things go badly wrong when Julia falls for another man...

It’s taken some time for Emmanuel Mouret to establish himself as a credible director, but with Changement d’adresse, his third full-length film, it looks as if he has well and truly arrived.  This film is an absolute gem, a welcome return to the kind of sophisticated yet highly enjoyable romantic comedies of the 1970s, such as those made by New Wave directors Eric Rohmer and François Truffaut, with a delicious touch of old-fashioned burlesque.  Mouret himself stars in the film and looks uncannily like the naïve younger brother of Antoine Doinel, Truffaut’s famous alter ego played by Jean-Pierre Léaud.

Mouret surpasses himself not only in his direction (he is clearly a keen student of Eric Rohmer, and probably a closet Woody Allen fan), but also in the quality of his screenplay, which subtly reveals a rare sensitivity for human relationships and a genius for comic word play.  The jokes are great (especially the double entendres, which are so sharp you can almost shave with them), but the characters are also well-drawn and totally believable.

Much of the charm of this film lies in the understated performances from Mouret and his three co-stars, Frédérique Bel, Fanny Valette and Dany Brillant.  It is a terrific ensemble which makes the most of Mouret’s great script, bringing not just a seemingly endless series of smiles and laughs, but also a sense of realism and genuine poignancy – albeit from beneath a thin veil of quirky absurdity.  Changement d’adresse is easily one of the most satisfying French film comedies in recent years.  Having seen this one, you can hardly resist checking out Mouret’s previous film - another winner - Vénus et Fleur.

© James Travers 2007

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