Un couple épatant (2002)

Un couple épatant is a French film comedy-drama first released in 2002, directed by Lucas Belvaux.  The film stars Ornella Muti, François Morel, Valérie Mairesse, Dominique Blanc and Gilbert Melki.  It has also been released under the title: Trilogy: Two.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


After a medical examination, Alain Costes manages to convince himself that he has an incurable illness.  His attempt to conceal his mounting anxiety and depression causes his wife, Cécile, to think that he may be having an affair with another woman.  Unable to tolerate her husband’s strange behaviour any longer, Cécile hires Pascal, the husband of her best friend, to spy on him.  When he sees that Cécile has started to behave strangely, Alain becomes equally convinced that she is cheating on him.  Before long, a small misunderstanding has escalated into a domestic crisis.

Un couple épatant, a mix of social satire and farce, is one instalment in a trilogy of three films from Belgian born director Lucas Belvaux.  Unlike most trilogies, the three films run in parallel, not consecutively, with different characters taking centre stage in the different films.  Hence, events which are central to one film assume a far lesser importance in the others, so that each film gives a different perspective on the characters and their personal dramas.  The other two films in the trilogy are Cavale (2002), a thriller, and Après la vie (2002), a drama.  The  three films may be viewed in any order.

Un couple épatant is by far the least satisfactory film in the Belvaux trilogy.  The central premise (a situation getting totally out of hand) is a promising one, but it is handled with the utmost ineptitude.  What should have been a magnificent blend of back comedy and farce is pretty well ruined by a combination of a weak script, uninspired direction and, worst of all, some excruciatingly bad acting.  Fortunately, the film does have some notable plus points.  Belvaux’s individual style of cinema – strikingly austere with its dark sense of irony and cruel portrayal of human failings – keeps the spectator interested and amused, in spite of the film’s obvious deficiencies.  As a film in its own right, Un couple épatant certainly leaves a lot to be desired, but as a light hors d’oeuvre for what it to come – the better two films in the trilogy – it is just about worth seeing.

© James Travers 2006

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