Le Code a changé (2009) - film review

For Marie-Laurence and Piotr, a perfectly happy couple, there is nothing easier than hosting a dinner party for their friends and relations.  She is a successful lawyer, he is unemployed, but nothing has soured their relationship – until this night.  As the guest turn up, everything appears to be sweetness and light, with everyone looking forward to a convivial evening of banal conversation and good food.  It isn’t long, however, before the masks begin to slip and the party turns into a nightmare...

Le Code a changé, Danièle Thompson’s latest bittersweet social comedy, may lack the finesse and rigour of the director’s previous ensemble pieces - La Bûche (1999) and Fauteuils d’orchestre (2006) - but it is still a delightful little gem that elegantly draws humour and pathos from the complexities of human relationships.  As in her previous films, Thompson co-wrote the screenplay with her son Christopher, who also appears in the film.  

The plot is so simple that it can be summarised on the back of a very small postage stamp.  Four couples come together to attend a dinner party.  At the end of the soirée, they agree to meet up in a year’s time.  A year proves to be a long time and at the friends’ next reunion, everything has changed, but not for the better.   As ever, Danièle Thompson is much less concerned with plot than with character, specifically the way that characters interact, how relationships are forged and broken.  Thompson is a great observer of human psychology and human interaction, which is why her films always feel bitingly authentic.
 
For this latest exploration of human frailty, Thompson assembles an impressive cast that includes some of the finest and best-known actors in France.  As you would expect, the performances are impeccable and offer convincing portrayals of individuals in various kinds of personal crisis.  There are particularly fine contributions from Patrick Bruel, Pierre Arditi, Dany Boon and Patrick Chesnais, who make the most of Thompson’s finely sculptured (and at times highly caustic) dialogue.  

The film is engaging enough but, like a platter of nouvelle cuisine, feels somewhat unsatisfying.  The fact that there are so many characters prevents any one character from being explored in as much depth as we would like, and indeed some of the characters only just escape being thinly sketched caricatures.  Le Code a changé is like the kind of meal you might experience in an upmarket Parisian restaurant.  You relish the ambiance, you delight in the company, you devour the tasty morsels with the relish of a true bon vivant, but when the meal is over and you head back home you still feel the hunger pains and wish you could go back for a second helping.

© James Travers 2010

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