VENICE 2023 Out of Competition
Review: Coup de chance
- VENICE 2023: Woody Allen’s latest is a pleasant comedy-thriller and a kind of “comfort food” for lovers of the New York-born veteran
After Rifkin’s Festival [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (2020), Woody Allen is back on the big screen with his 50th film, titled Coup de chance [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. On this occasion, the New York-born helmer dishes up some pleasant “comfort food” for the audience. In other words, Allen doesn’t raise the bar or propose anything particularly new, but manages to deliver a more-than-adequate work to add to his oeuvre. The picture was world-premiered out of competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
His new story takes place in Paris, and it’s a bourgeois comedy-thriller with some elements of romance. We get to know Fanny (charmingly portrayed by Lou de Laâge), a woman in her thirties who works for a major auction house. One day, she casually meets an old secondary-school friend, a divorced writer called Alain (Niels Schneider). Fanny is married to Jean (Melvil Poupaud), a rich and overly jealous man whose job remains mysterious, and who seems to consider Fanny his “trophy wife”. Poupaud plays his role skilfully, making his character annoying and cruel enough, but also as silly as Daffy Duck. Alain and Fanny embark on an affair, and the main turning point takes place when Alain seems to have left Paris without leaving any trace behind him. Alain’s disappearance increases Fanny’s desperation, and her mother (Valérie Lemercier) is the only one who is determined to investigate further.
It’s also endearing – although a bit banal and sappy – to see how Fanny and Alain’s strong bond emerges upon the man’s attempt to convince the woman to live her life to the fullest. In particular, he stresses how each of us is lucky to be alive, since there is only a one-in-400-trillion chance of being born in this world. It’s more interesting to see how Allen makes fun of some of the clichés of high society, such as that of going hunting and spending endless days in the countryside.
Visually speaking, the film stands out thanks to Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography, which obviously needs no introduction. Here, the Italian DoP manages to create an appealing contrast between the blue-and-white colour palette of Fanny and Jean’s lavish apartment and the beautiful, warmer colours of the streets of the French capital in autumn. Besides this, the score is in line with the light-hearted mood of the tale, and the refrain of Herbie Hancock’s classic “Cantaloupe Island” serves as a fresh intermezzo in between several of the scenes.
All in all, Coup de chance is a very pleasant 96-minute feature characterised by a simple yet functional directorial approach, a solid ensemble of actors, tender yet funny dialogue, and rather engaging narrative pacing. And rest assured: the end scene alone is worth the price of the ticket.
Coup de chance was produced by US-based outfit Gravier Productions, and co-produced by Dippermouth Productions Limited (UK), Perdido Productions (USA) and Petite Fleur (France). WestEnd Films is selling the feature worldwide.
Photogallery 04/09/2023: Venice 2023 - Coup de chance
35 pictures available. Swipe left or right to see them all.
© 2023 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it
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