France Boutique
2003 Comedy / Drama
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Credits
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Summary
A married couple, France and Olivier Mestral, have created their own shopping channel,
France Boutique. After ten years together, the strain on their relationship is beginning
to show, and their company’s prospects are also starting to falter. They are
lured into a partnership with Sofia, the head of an Internet shopping company, whose objective
is to bankrupt France Boutique so that she can take their airtime. Will France and
Olivier fall into Sofia’s trap…?
Review
Tonie Marshall’s sixth film bears some superficial similarities with her previous
success, Vénus
beauté (institut), in that both portray tangled love lives within an
artificially glamorous setting. However, in contrast to some of Marshall’s
earlier films, France Boutique is so dominated
by its sense of parody that it itself feels kitsch and shallow, with few, if any, of its
characters having the space to give much more than a two dimensional impression.
As a result, the film is funny and largely entertaining but has neither the maturity nor
emotional power that has characterised Marshall’s work to date. The
Viard-Cluzet double act works well, both actors being convincing as shopping channel presenters,
not just the naïve caricature you might have expected. Unfortunately, their
contribution is inhibited by a script which fails to make their characters believable.
© James Travers 2005 Write a review for this film... |
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