Mauvaise passe (1999) - film review

Frustrated by his humdrum middle-class life, a university lecturer, Pierre, walks out on his wife and family and moves to London to write his first novel.  A chance encounter brings him into contact with Tom, a café owner who also works for an escort agency.  Out of curiosity and necessity (he needs money to pay his rent), Pierre is easily persuaded to join the agency.  Through his new job as a professional male prostitute Pierre discovers a new lease of life, but things soon become complicated...

This film offers an amusing portrait of a man experiencing a mid-life crisis which propels him into a radically new lifestyle.  It was directed by Michel Blanc, who is better known a comic actor (most notably for his role in Patrice Leconte’s 1989 film, Monsieur Hire), and stars popular French actor Daniel Auteuil, playing the kind of role he excels in.   Auteuil’s sensitive portrayal of a man on the brink is engrossing and he has no difficulty taking the audience with him on his voyage of self-discovery.

Where the film falls down is that it often attempts to go after gritty realism without ever achieving it.  As a result, the dialogue sometimes sounds phoney, drama becomes melodrama, and the characterisation and flow of the story suffer.  The film’s Gallic charm (which is evident even if most of the dialogue is in English) helps to compensate for this flaw.  Also, some nice comic touches nicely offset some of the film’s darker moments and overall the film appears sophisticated and polished, albeit somewhat lacking in depth.

© James Travers 2002

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