L'Amour en douce
1985 Romantic Comedy / Drama   
 
  • Director: Edouard Molinaro
  • Script: Jean Sagols, Christian Watton
  • Photo: Jean-Paul Schwartz
  • Music: Alain Lemeur
  • Cast: Daniel Auteuil (Marc Delmas), Jean-Pierre Marielle (Antoine Garnier), Emmanuelle Béart (Samantha Page), Sophie Barjac (Jeanne Delmas), Daniel Ceccaldi (Maître Ravignac), Mathieu Carrière (Carl), Roger Dumas (Georges), Claude Villers (Mario), Jean-Michel Dupuis (Jacques), Michel Robin (Gabriel), Blanchette Brunoy (Mémé Odette), Renée Faure (Tante Thérèse), Marie-Anne Chazel (Josyane), Évelyne Dandry (Brigitte), Jean-Claude Martin (Henri), Maka Kotto (François), François Domange (Ficelle), An Thuy Luu (Tang), Valérie Vezzo (Sabine), Yvette Etiévant (Claire)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 100 min
  • Aka: Love on the Quiet; Une amie de passage
 
 
 
Summary
When lawyer Marc Delmas learns that his wife Jeanne has invited her new lover Antoine to move in with her, his reaction is to hire a call girl, Samantha Page.  To his surprise, Samantha is intelligent and sensitive, as well as beautiful, and he immediately falls in love with her.  His relationship with Jeanne well and truly over, Marc starts an affair with Samantha, and the couple live an idyllic life alongside Jeanne and Antoine.  Things suddenly go wrong for everyone when one of Samantha’s ex-boyfriends turns up unexpectedly…


Review
This lightweight romantic comedy was directed by Edouard Molinaro, who is probably best known for such French hit comedies as La Cage aux folles (1978).  Whilst the story and characterisation are somewhat simplistic and far from convincing, some fine performances from a superlative cast make the film both emotionally engaging and entertaining.  Daniel Auteuil appears along side his wife-to-be Emmanuelle Béart for the first time; they would subsequently work together on a number of films including Claude Sautet’s Un coeur en hiver (1992).

© James Travers 2006


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