Un couple épatant (2002)

Director:

Lucas Belvaux

Writer:

Lucas Belvaux (writer)

Release Date:

1 January 2003 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

In the first installment in director Belvaux's trilogy, Alain's eccentric behavior causes his wife, Cecile, to hire a detective to follow his every move -- which yields unexpected results.

Plot Keywords:

Teacher | Hypochondriac | Mistress | Daughter | Birthday Party

Awards:

8 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Ornella Muti	...	Cécile Costes
François Morel	...	Alain
Valérie Mairesse	...	Claire
Dominique Blanc	...	Agnès
Gilbert Melki	...	Pascal
Lucas Belvaux	...	Pierre
Catherine Frot	...	Jeanne
Bernard Mazzinghi	...	Georges
Raphaële Godin	...	Louise (as Raphaele Godin)
Patrick Depeyrrat	...	Vincent (as Patrick Depeyra)
Vincent Colombe	...	Rémy
Pierre Gérard	...	Olivier
Jean-Baptiste Montagut	...	Henri
Anne Delol	...	L'infirmière
Joss Philopémon	...	Le chauffeur de taxi

Also Known As:

Trilogy: Two (International: English title) (UK)
An Amazing Couple (International: English title)
Two (UK)

MPAA:

Rated PG for language and thematic elements.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

France | Belgium

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:12 | France:U | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:Unrated | USA:PG

Company:

Agat Films & Cie

Trivia:

Forms a trilogy along with Cavale (2002) and Après la vie (2002), the main characters of this one being the supporting actors in the other ones, and vice versa. The three movies have some scenes in common which are shown from a different point of view according to the storyline we're following.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Cavale (2002)

The weakest link in "The Trilogy," but the whole, one hopes, is more than the parts

The Belgian director's trilogy, number two as shown in the US, but shown first in French theaters, this is a domestic comedy (the title is ironic) about a hypochondriac and increasingly paranoid small tech business owner Alain (Francois Morel) who runs around hiding from his wife that he's going to have a very minor operation because he absurdly thinks it's going to be the death of him. His wife Cecile (Ornella Muti) senses that he's sneaking around and, thinking he's having an affair, gets her friend Agnes' cop husband (Gilbert Melki) to follow him, which makes him more paranoid. Eventually things end up at the chalet where Belvaux's escaped political prisoner character (central in the Cavale/On the Run panel) is hiding--the chalet being the main link with other episodes. This is generally and not without reason considered the weakest of the three films in The Trilogy. It's thin and repetitious pretty much throughout, and though poised as a comedy, its main character's obsession with death is hardly funny.

As one French critic wrote, he might have done better if he'd just made one good film. Mahohla Dargis wrote that 'The Trilogy' was "more conceptually fascinating than cinematically engaging." "'The Trilogy'" (she also wrote) "is nothing if not a logistical coup. Inspired by the way genre determines meaning, Belvaux used three editing teams to shape his overlapping stories and the results are (these three films)." In the third, which I haven't seen yet, 'Apres la vie'/'After the Life,' the genre is drama (or melodrama) and in it Melki, the cop, falls in love with Cecile, the wife who's hired him to investigate her husband. It's generally agreed that Melki shines in 'The Trilogy'. I also like Catheriine Frot, who is important in 'Cavale.'

Belvaux's 'Trilogy' is good potential material for a film course (comparison of genres, alternate takes, etc.), but the basic content of each film could be better. The hope with Belvaux's 'Trilogy' has to be that the whole is more than the parts.