Director James Ivory also co-adapted this film-version of Diane Johnson's novel about a pregnant American writer in Paris getting a visit from her vivacious half-sister on the same afternoon her husband walks out on her and their young daughter; while the estranged couple squabbles over legal matters, the sister gets a job working with another female writer and seduces a French politician, whom she calls "Uncle Edgar". Botched treatise on American marriage versus French marriage (as well as politics, money, art, and cuisine) is light at first but soon becomes a dirge. In the leads, Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts are certainly likable, but the bland script (directed in a woefully low-keyed manner) never allows their personal chemistry to shine through; Watts, in particular, struggles with her sniping, unhappy character. Curiously misjudged effort from the team of Ivory-Merchant. *1/2 from ****
Review of Le divorce
