Happily Ever After

French actor Yvan Attal has now written and directed two films in which he and his wife Charlotte Gainsbourg play a couple having marital problems. Here he abandons the emotional immaturity of 2002's comically autobiographical My Wife Is an Actress and creates a pensive, more down-to-earth effort that asks what makes a satisfying, successful relationship--i.e., just what does "happily ever after" really mean? The picture follows three 40-something buddies who envy one another's lives--Vincent (Attal), who is bored with his loving marriage and secretly having an affair; Georges, who is miserable under the thumb of a bitter wife; and Fred, a playboy dissatisfied with meaningless flings. But as the story evolves, the focus turns slowly, smoothly, and absorbingly toward Gabrielle (Gainsbourg), whose quiet knowledge of Vincent's infidelity becomes the catalyst for her own heart to wander. Intelligently sexy, Gainsbourg provides a wonderfully complex focus for the film as it touches on the small changes that can throw a relationship off course and the seemingly unimportant factors that keep people together, happily or not. Although Attal wraps up parts of his story too neatly and superficially, the central relationship rings true and remains compelling. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include an interview with director Yvan Attal (12 min.), a deleted scene with commentary by Attal (3 min.), a stills gallery, and trailers. Bottom line: a small but decent extras package for a solid foreign film.] (R. Blackwelder)