L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, September 29, 2005 7:00 pm
“Apres Vous” is further proof that the French still know how to make romantic comedies that are funny and romantic — a combination that rarely happens in Hollywood’s attempts at such films, even when they’re copying French originals.
In part, “Apres Vous” puts a novel twist on the standard romantic comedy formula, bringing in the romance only in the second half of the picture. But it also works because its primary players give irresistible performances.
At the center of the story is Daniel Auteuil, one of France’s best actors, who plays Antoine, the headwaiter at an upscale Paris restaurant. A whiz at his job, which involves solving problems and making people feel good, he takes his work home with him — literally.
Running late for a date with his live-in lover Christine (Marilyne Canto), he cuts through a park where he comes upon a man trying to hang himself. Unable to allow that to happen, Antoine cuts the hose strangling Louis (Jose Garcia), then feels responsible for the man whose life he saves.
Taking Louis home, he first determines that the emotionally troubled Louis has sent a suicide note to the grandparents who raised him. Driving through the night to the small town where the grandparents live, he learns, through a very funny scene, that grandma had urged Louis’ girlfriend Blanche (Sandrine Kiberlain) to leave him — triggering his depression and instability.
To resolve his new friend’s problems, Antoine gets the utterly unqualified Louis a job as the restaurant’s sommelier, then sets about tracking down Blanche. He finds her running a flower shop and set to be married in a few days.
But Antoine finds a way to help scuttle the marriage and then the fun really begins as romance blooms, but not in the usual fashion.
At 110 minutes, “Apres Vous” is too long and it loses steam in a few places. But for the most part, director Pierre Salvadori gets things exactly right, and there are some moments in the film that are laugh-out-loud funny.
The funny part, however, is the easiest aspect of a romantic comedy. Catching the emotion is much more difficult, and “Apres Vous” gets those tones as dead-on as it does the humor. That comes, in part, from the writing and direction. But Auteuil, as the ever-more harried Antoine, who finds out more about himself than he does about Louis during the adventure, the entertaining sad sack Garcia and the touching, lovely Kiberlain couldn’t play their parts better.
There’s nothing remotely deep or all that serious about “Apres Vous.” It’s just good, sweet fun that works on screen.
So see it now or you can wait until Hollywood remakes it with Ashton Kutcher, Brittany Murphy and Johnny Knoxville, and it will stink to high heaven.
Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.