Caprice (2015)
Directed by Emmanuel Mouret

Film Review

After an unsuccessful but well-meaning attempt to branch out into the dramatic-thriller genre with Une autre vie (2014), writer-director Emmanuel Mouret bounces back with the kind of film with which he is far more comfortable - the talky rom-com which has earned him the epithet of France's answer to Woody Allen.   In the same line as the director's earlier successes Un baiser, s'il vous plaît! (2007) and Fais-moi plaisir! (2009), Caprice serves up another fluffy concoction of romantic confusion in which Mouret again plays the socially inept goon with more women on his hands than he can deal with.  Not content with being married to a cinema goddess (Virginie Efira at her most ravishing), Mouret allows his troublesome libido to be tempted by a pushy romantic firecracker (a fearsome Anaïs Demoustier) and ends up fighting his way out of a predictable Woody Allen-esque muddle, looking like a poodle trying to swim the Atlantic as he does so.

Ruining on-screen relationships is something that Anaïs Demoustier is getting quite adept at, having achieved pretty much the same result in another recent film - Jérôme Bonnell's À trois on y va (2015).  Demoustier may not have Efira's drop-dead good looks, but she has a woman's killer instinct when it comes to bagging her man and Mouret is putty in her hands when she directs her amorous intent in his direction, like a heat-seeking missile homing in on its target.  Looking more like Pierre Richard with every film he appears in, Mouret hasn't a hope as his uncomplicated love life suddenly turns into a mess of nightmarish proportions, which isn't helped when his best friend starts sniffing around Efira.

Caprice doesn't quite have the Rohmer-esque sophistication of Mouret's previous comedies but it still manages to be effortlessly entertaining, thanks to its author's penchant for sharply witty dialogue and the robust comedy performances from the leads.  Perhaps more so than Bonnell's film, Mouret sidesteps the conventions of the traditional ménage-à-trois farce and rewards with a film which feels true-to-life as well as deliriously funny in places.  Theatrical in its stylisation, Mouret's distinctive brand of cinema continues to enchant and delight, and let's hope that he continues in this vein for many years to come, French cinema's most adept disciple to the art of burlesque marivaudage.

Film Synopsis

Clément, a maladroit schoolteacher, is obsessed with the film star Alicia Bardery, so imagine his surprise, to say nothing of his delight, when the object of his obsession succumbs to his charms and says she is willing to be his partner for life.  For several years Clément leads an idyllic family life with Alicia, but then another woman, Caprice, suddenly falls in love with him.  The impetuous and pushy Caprice could not be more different from Alicia, and yet Clément finds himself attracted to her.  Just as Caprice begins to win her man over, Alicia's attentions are drawn towards Clément's best friend, Thomas...