Les Âmes de papier (2013)
Directed by Vincent Lannoo

Film Review

If Woody Allen were to attempt an adaptation of Ferenc Molnár's famous stage play Liliom (better known as its musical reincarnation Carousel) it would probably look something like this quirky Belgian comedy (after it had been dubbed into French).  Director Vincent Lannoo freely admits to taking a cue or two from the esteemed Mr Allen and his film, a typically Allenesque meditation on love and death, is as likeably idiosyncratic and unpredictable as anything produced by his better known American counterpart.  Les Âmes de papier takes a situation that is one of the bulwarks of francophone cinema, the love triangle, and gives it an amusing spin by having as one of its protagonists a man brought back from the dead.

The other two protagonists - a world weary scribe and still grieving partner - buy into this fantastic premise with surprising ease (the most obvious flaw in an admittedly so-so script) but Lannoo's matter-of-fact approach (something he perfected on his 2010 faux documentary Vampires) helps us over the credibility hurdle - with the help of some quintessentially Belgian dark humour.  Whatever shortcomings the script may have are more than made up for by the enjoyable, true-to-life contributions from the three principal actors.  With his penchant for downbeat humour and general air of a man who has had more than his fill of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Stéphane Guillon could easily pass muster as a French equivalent of Woody Allen - the role of the moody writer brought back to life by a love affair was clearly written for him in mind and he excels in the part.

Likewise Jonathan Zaccaï (a far better actor than he is given credit for) was an easy shoe-in for the part of the atomised reporter who somehow returns to Earth (we never discover how) so that he can bid a fond farewell to his nearest and dearest, the most brazen filch from Molnár's play.  Completing the unlikely lead trio is a captivating (as ever) Julie Gayet - oddly, she is the most ethereal of the three leads and the one who most makes us aware that this is more in the way of a fairytale than a real-life drama.  If Gayet were taken out of the equation this would have looked like the wierdest of buddy movies, with Guillon  going to extraordinary lengths to convince Zaccaï he is dead and Zaccaï stubbornly refusing to accept the fact.  It sounds like the premise for a great sitcom.

Pierre Richard's inclusion as a cantankerous old Holocaust survivor preoccupied with his memoirs looks like an afterthought, although the actor more than justifies his presence by deftly fielding some anarchic humour in the muddled proceedings.  Having viciously assaulted a street Santa, Richard happily causes pandemonium in a supermarket - something that only a sprightly Jewish septuagenarian can get away with.  Les Âmes de papier does disgrace itself a little with its clumsily doled out sentimentality and a general lack of cohesion, but its tongue-in-cheek reworking of a familiar plot and a generous helping of off-kilter humour make it a surprisingly fun little film.

Film Synopsis

Since his wife's premature death, Paul has little enthusiasm for his career as a writer and he now devotes himself mostly to writing funeral speeches for paying customers.  This is how he comes to meet Emma, an attractive young woman who lost her own partner Nathan, a war reporter, a year ago.  Emma commissions Paul to write a piece about her husband for her young son Adam, but before he has completed this assignment Paul realises he is hopelessly in love with his client.  A blossoming love affair is abruptly derailed when, one evening, a stranger comes knocking on the door to Paul's apartment.  The middle-aged writer is aghast when he recognises the stranger as Emma's supposedly deceased husband.  It seems that Nathan has returned from the dead.  On the plus side, he has completely lost his memory...