Quatre étoiles (2006)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Christian Vincent

Writers:

Olivier Dazat (writer)
Christian Vincent (writer)

Release Date:

3 May 2006 (France)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Franssou, a charming Parisian English teacher, who shares part of her life with a boring middle-aged lover...

Plot Keywords:

Riviera | Cannes | Paris

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Isabelle Carré	...	France "Franssou" Dumanoir
José Garcia	...	Stéphane Lachesnaye
François Cluzet	...	René
Jean-Paul Bonnaire	...	Jacky Morestel
Michel Vuillermoz	...	Marc
Mar Sodupe	...	Christina
Guilaine Londez	...	Marianne
Charline Paul	...	La voisine
Olivier Dazat	...	Casteldi
Luis Rego	...	Robert
Renée Le Calm	...	Mlle Poilloux
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Éliane Adatto	...	Concierge
Vincent Andrieu	...	Employé notaire
Guillaume Bacquet
Marcelle Barreau
Jean-Claude Bolle-Reddat	...	Réceptionniste
Joseph Braconnier	...	Bagagiste
Claire Charré	...	Conseillère bancaire
Marius Colucci	...	Employé de réception
Jean-Louis Combelles	...	Maître d'hôtel
Fernand Dalmasso	...	Automobiliste
Georges Eon
Sébastien Féron	...	Loueur de voiture
Raymond Gil	...	Notaire
Colette Grivet	...	Femme de ménage
Stéphane Jouin	...	Barman
Gérard Jumel	...	Directeur
Béatrice Khebizi
Johnny Luchenne
Ham-Chau Luong	...	Couple asiatique
Philippe Manesse	...	Homme hippodrome
Richard Morgiève	...	Prêtre
Kim Nhan
Michel Ouimet
Patrick Palmero	...	Roberto
Hoan Pham	...	Couple asiatique
Philippe Smail	...	Bruno
Claude Testoris
Aurélie Valat	...	Secrétaire du notaire
Marion Waternaux	...	Serveur sri lankais

Also Known As:

Four Stars (Australia) (TV title)

Runtime:

France:106 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

Antibes, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

Fidélité Productions

Soundtrack:

Don't go breaking my heart

Enjoyable, but Grant and Kelly it ain't

An odd one this - on the face of it, a modern French update on classic rom-coms such as Some Like It Hot and To Catch A Thief.

This film sees pretty, young Franssou unexpectedly inherit 50,000 Euros from a distant, miserable great aunt. She sits with her friends and almost inanimate boyfriend and discusses what to do. It's not a lot, but...

Faced by her lover's assertion that a new double bed and some savings certificates would be nice, she flees silently to the Riviera, where she puts up in a posh hotel and acts like she is rich.

In so doing, she comes to the attention of local spiv Stephane, and there begins a competition. Will Stephane succeed in all his crooked plans, or will Franssou lead him on a merry dance into being her lover? At this level, it works enjoyably enough. The two leads are delightful and give excellent, naturalistic performances (in fact, I think I have fallen in love with Isabelle Carre), and the film plays smoothly with that essential dash of Riviera style.

And yet... at various times, Stephane is seriously unpleasant towards Franssou - for instance, in the middle of an otherwise lightly amusing scene, he hits her with a shocking viciousness. Further, he is shown to be, basically, a well-dressed, callous, childish French-Arab low-life, whom Franssou for some unearthly reason insists on taunting into fancying her, while she, in turn, seems quite happy to adopt his nefarious ways.

Having a denouement as 'I conned a conman into loving me so I decided to join him in conning other people too' seems very odd and frankly, is quite uncomfortable for a viewer who is fairly certain they are watching a romantic comedy.

So what's going on? I'm not at all sure, but does Franssou's real name (France) give any clue? Is there a parable in here? I hope not.