EXCLUSIVELY AT IFI The stellar reunion of Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu is the headline news here, but François Ozon’s retro-styled situation comedy contrives a marvellous balance of breezy entertainment and pointed social comment. Adapting a slice of mid-’70s boulevard theatre in which a factory owner’s trophy wife proves her mettle during an industrial dispute, the prolific and versatile French director plays up the time-capsule costumes and decors – just check out that telephone handset cover in exquisite avocado! – while still also reminding us that the same period staked out the labour rights and sexual equality society now takes as read. Deneuve proves positively regal as the story’s driving force and also displays what a natural comedienne she is, while Depardieu shows he can still muster the old twinkle as a besotted leftist opponent. Their clandestine rendezvous in a cheese-tastic provincial discotheque brings a moment of magic in a movie which knows how to enjoy itself but always moves with an admirable clarity of purpose. (Notes by Trevor Johnson). FRENCH FILM CLUB
French Film Club screening at 21.05 on June 28th.