Return of the Hero

It's a nice amalgam of influences: the returned-from-the-dead officer is taken from Le colonel Chabert, the two sisters with contrasting personalities from Sense and Sensibility, and the domestic setup from any French historical film. Jean Dujardin is splendid as the fraudulent hero, Melanie Laurent is very adept as the conniving older sister Elisabeth, and Noemie Merlant is the fiery younger sister who first falls for Dujardin. I admit I was led to watch by Merlant's performance in Portrait of a Woman On Fire, an amazing turn.

Laurent Tirard is a capable director of comedy; he'd already done Moliere with Romain Duris, and the very funny Mensonges et trahisons et plus si affinites... I look forward to his next film.