Voyance et manigance (2001) - film review

Chantal’s well-ordered life is suddenly thrown into turmoil when her husband Roland loses his job.  On the advice of a friend, she goes to see a professional clairvoyant, hoping to find out what the future holds for her husband.  Chantal is surprised when the clairvoyant, Alban, tells her that a new man is about to enter her life and that she is a cursed woman.  To dispel the curse, she must pay for a course of therapy.  Chantal suspects she is being duped but her scepticism suddenly disappears when she meets a handsome young man, Michel, whose charms she cannot resist.  Now convinced that Alban was right, Chantal takes up his course to cure her of her affliction, without realising she is the victim of an elaborate scam...

This first film from Eric Fourniols (an ex-rugby footballer) offers an amusing satire on what is possibly the most successful (and perhaps most destructive) con trick of our time: fortune telling.  Watch this film and you are likely to be cured of the urge to consult a clairvoyant for the rest of your life.  Although the film has some noticeable faults (uneven pacing, some implausible characterisation), it is a fun film to watch, thanks mainly to the contributions from its talented cast.   Emmanuelle Béart demonstrates a surprising talent for comedy and is the main reason for watching this film.   Dieudonné, who has built a solid reputation as a comic performer in recent years, is worryingly convincing in his role as the fraudulent fortune teller, whilst Anémone, a prolific comic actress in the 1980s, appears to have lost none of her charms and is deliciously over-the-top.   The charismatic Serge Hazanavicius once again finds himself in the role of a sympathetic Don Juan – a part he plays well, but at the risk of becoming irredeemably stereotyped.  Too many football references perhaps, but overall this makes an amusing Gallic romp.

© James Travers 2003

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