PAS SUR LA BOUCHE

France, 2003, 115 minutes, Colour.

Sabine Azema, Audrey Tautou, Isabeele Nanty, Daniel Prevost, Lambert Wilson, Pierre Arditi.
Directed by Alain Resnais.

Alain Resnais is always remembered for his powerful documentary, Night and Fog, almost 50 years old now, as well as his contributions to Hiroshima, Mon Amour and Last Year at Marienbad. He has, in recent decades, had a soft spot for music and song and now he has brought to the screen a forgotten1925 operetta, Pas Sur La Bouche (Not on the mouth) by Andre Bard and Maurice Yvain.

Does it work? You would need a French reviewer to give the answer to that question. The French public received it well in cinemas. It is highly stylised, has a cast of actors (including Sabine Azema, Lambert Wilson, Audrey Tautou), who do their own singing, and uses the devices of French farce with marital mix-ups, ill-timed rendezvous and a landlady who is played by a man.

Sometimes the English channel is like a gulf when it comes to differences in taste. This one is probably (more than probably) not an Anglophone taste.