Cours toujours (2000) - film review

Jonas and Nina are a young Jewish couple who have just given birth to a boy.  At the christening ceremony, Jonas is informed that he must bury his son’s foreskin three days after he has been circumcised.  Three days later, Jonas is performing as a musician at a bar mitzvah and forgets all about this simple duty.  When his wife calls him to remind him, he rushes off to bury the foreskin, but the task proves to be far harder than he anticipated...

Dante Desarthe’s second full-length film, Cour toujours is an ebullient, zany comedy anchored in Jewish culture, occupying the hazy territory between satire and farce.  The film is entertaining but it does not get anywhere near exploiting its full comic potential.   If anything, much of the comedy is misplaced and the film is at its best when it doesn’t go overboard.  When it tries to be intentionally funny it merely ends up looking excessively contrived and ridiculous (for example, all that the business with the rabidly jealous Jewish husband).   What saves the film and gives it a quality feel it might otherwise lack is the calibre of the performances from its lead actors – Clément Sibony and Rona Hartner being particularly memorable, both clearly destined for better things.

© James Travers 2002

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