Mauvaise passe
1999 Drama
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Credits
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Summary
Frustrated by his humdrum middle-class life, a university lecturer, Pierre, walks out
on his wife and family and moves to London to write his first novel. A chance encounter
brings him into contact with Tom, a café owner who also works for an escort agency.
Out of curiosity and necessity (he needs money to pay his rent), Pierre is easily persuaded
to join the agency. Through his new job as a professional male prostitute Pierre
discovers a new lease of life, but things soon become complicated...
Review
This film offers an amusing portrait of a man experiencing a mid-life crisis which propels
him into a radically new lifestyle. It was directed by Michel Blanc, who is better
known a comic actor (most notably for his role in Patrice Leconte’s 1989 film, Monsieur
Hire), and stars popular French actor Daniel Auteuil, playing the kind of role
he excels in. Auteuil’s sensitive portrayal of a man on the brink is engrossing
and he has no difficulty taking the audience with him on his voyage of self-discovery.
Where the film falls down is that it often attempts to go after gritty realism without ever achieving it. As a result, the dialogue sometimes sounds phoney, drama becomes melodrama, and the characterisation and flow of the story suffer. The film’s Gallic charm (which is evident even if most of the dialogue is in English) helps to compensate for this flaw. Also, some nice comic touches nicely offset some of the film’s darker moments and overall the film appears sophisticated and polished, albeit somewhat lacking in depth. © James Travers 2002 Write a review for this film... |
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