Le Divorce

A pseudo-sophisticated sexual roundelay full of trivial characters so selfish it's a chore to spend two hours with them, this Merchant-Ivory film--a departure from their traditional period pieces--is based on Diane Johnson's titular novel about two American sisters suffering the slings and arrows of French male infidelity. Unfortunately, the women victims/heroines are worthy of very little sympathy themselves. Insecure doormat Naomi Watts has just been left by a philandering Parisian husband; her supposedly self-possessed younger sibling (Kate Hudson) is appalled at her plight--although that doesn't stop the little hypocrite from becoming the throwaway mistress of the cheater's Uncle Edgar (Thierry Lhermitte). Arrogance and condescension abound in the picture's stock French characters--especially the rich in-laws who circle their wagons with cruel disdain when Watts refuses to accept a divorce--and what is meant to be a jaunty, Altman-esque ensemble dramedy becomes both more serious and more inconsequential as the sisters steadily become more flaky and unstable. Eventually the story limps to a pandering, slapdash finale, propped up by out-of-the-blue narration and shorthanded altruism implying that commendable betterment has finally come to its self-absorbed characters. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include both widescreen and full screen versions. Bottom line: always nice to have both formats for the price of one, although the film is disappointing.] (R. Blackwelder)