Les Chaises musicales (2015)
Directed by Marie Belhomme

Film Review

For Les Chaises musicales, her first feature as a director, Marie Belhomme plays it safe with a genre - the sentimental comedy - that is fairly well-liked in France, milking the enduring appeal of such films as Bridget Jones's Diary.  Isabelle Carrée is an obvious shoe-in for the part of the socially inept spinster, virtually reprising the role that she had previously played in Jean-Pierre Améris's Les Émotifs anonymes (2010) (and probably a dozen other similar films).  Carrée's likeably gauche presence certainly helps to sell the film, but its lack of ambition and fanciful narrative prevent it from being anything more than a mildly engaging timewaster.

The film starts by introducing Carrée's somewhat pathetic character, one of those sad lonely souls who fail to grow up and seem destined to spend their entire lives in a state of arrested development.  Perrine's childishness is underlined by her odd career choice, which sees her dressing up in outlandish outfits (mostly of a fruit and veg theme) to amuse easily pleased partygoers.  She may not have David Prowse's build but this doesn't stop Perrine from adopting Darth Vader's sinister garb, and as she runs about the countryside thus arrayed she ends up by putting a man into a coma.  She would probably have had the same effect if she had been dolled up as Princess Leia.

Piling silliness upon silliness, Belhomme then has her heroine embarking on a spate of identity theft, or maybe identity 'borrowing' would be a better way of putting it.  Perrine's interest in stealing her victim's life is clearly only temporary, to last the duration of his coma, but if her motives were amorously motivated you have to ask yourself: what kind of man would fall for someone who rushes about the country dressed as Darth Vader and then steals his home, his job and his dog?  At no point does the narrative or the characters within it ring true, and even the presence of such delightful performers as Isabelle Carrée and Carmen Maura cannot salvage a film that makes so little emotional connection with its audience.  Still, Carrée's brief flirtation with the Dark Side fulfils at least one male fantasy, and all that's missing is Maura doing her Chewbacca party piece - maybe Belhomme is holding that back for the sequel?

Film Synopsis

Perrine is a forty-something spinster who has so far managed to let love pass her by.  She has set her sights on making a career as a musician, but lacking talent in this area she ends up having to earn a crust by making a fool of herself at parties, usually in old people's homes.   She is on her way to one of these dismal dos when she loses her way and ends up having to ask a stranger for directions.  The sight of Darth Vader wielding a scythe (the costume adopted by Perrine for her latest assignment) causes the unfortunate man to fall headfirst into a skip.  With the unknown man in a coma in a hospital, Perrine does all she can to bring him round, passing herself off as a relative so that she can speak to him.  As her amorous fancy takes hold of her, Perrine allows herself to be drawn into his life.  She moves into his apartment, takes his job and even adopts his dog.  It's one way of falling in love...