Laissons Lucie faire! (2000) - film review

Lucie makes her living selling bathing costumes on the beach at Marseilles.  Her boyfriend Lucien wants to become a policeman, but is rejected and, instead, is recruited as a secret agent.  The couple’s ten-year long relationship looks as if it might be over when Lucie starts to fantasise about another man and Lucien embarks on an impromptu affair with an American woman.  Then Lucie discovers a book about the psychology of love and decides to put what she reads into practice...

This charming romantic comedy marks a promising directoral debut for Emmanuel Mouret, who also wrote the script and starred in the film.  Although the plot lacks credibility in a few places (the absurdity of the secret agent subplot comes close to undermining the entire film), it is an uplifting little piece of cinema with some genuinely funny moments.  There is also a gentle tenderness and humanity which often gets lost in such films.  At a time when gritty realism and angst-ridden drama appear to have become the norm in French cinema, it is a joy to watch a film which takes a sunnier view of life.  Vive la diversité!

Marie Gillain is delightful as the film’s principal heroine (making us wish we saw more of her than we do in this kind of film), whilst Emmanuel Mouret, with his uncanny resemblance to that comic giant Fernandel, gives great entertainment value as the terminally useless Lucien.  The film relies heavily on its two lead actors and the fact that it works so well is down mainly to the talent of these two performers.

© James Travers 2003

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