Dieu seul me voit (1998) - film review

Albert, a shy absent-minded sound engineer, is coming to a mid-life crisis.  Despite his best attempts, he still has not found the woman of his dreams – but that looks set to change.  Whilst working on a political campaign in Toulouse, he meets a nurse, Sophie, who draws him into a romantic liaison which ends when her ex-boyfriend makes an unwelcome return.  Later, back in Paris, he has a one-night stand with a police woman, Corine, without realising that their night of passion is being relayed by his mobile phone to her jealous boyfriend.  Then there is the dinner date with a documentary film maker Anna, which looks promising, until Albert starts to have an uncontrollable fit of vomiting...

The talented Podalydès brothers, Bruno and Denis, return in this, the sequel to their popular short film, Versilles Rive-Gauche (1992).  A pleasing example of the French romantic comedy, the film features a sympathetic buffoon (played with great comic flair by Denis Podalydès) whose well-meaning attempts to find his ideal woman are a delight to watch.  Whilst some of the comic situations have a strangely surreal edge (do nurses really sing when you give blood?), the film feels true to life and is easy to engage with.  The final segment of the film, with Podalydès dating the splendiferous Jeanne Balibar, is both charming and hilarious.

© James Travers 2002

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