Alain Resnais (1922-2014), the most narratively daring of the directors in the early days of the French New Wave, spent his last two decades melding cinema and theater. Life of Riley, Resnais's third adaptation of a work by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, is a French production set in rural Britain, revolving around rehearsals for a community theater play. The titular Riley, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, never appears onscreen, but he still stirs the drama between three couples in this mix of bedroom farce (without the bedrooms), romantic comedy, and self-aware theater that opens on the first day of rehearsals and ends after closing night with a coda that returns to the themes of mortality and emotional connections. Resnais stages the tale on stylized, abstracted sets with hanging strips of heavy cloth used as backdrops, and he draws exaggerated, stage-like performances from his actors—a superb cast that includes French stars Sabine Azéma, Hippolyte Girardot, Sandrine Kiberlain, and André Dussollier—calling attention to the contrivances and conventions. Not always successful, but certainly inventive and playful, Resnais's final film is a minor but also pleasant capstone to a rich career. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include cast interviews (17 min.), trailers, and a booklet with essays by director Alain Resnais and film critic Glenn Kenny. Bottom line: a solid extras package for this engaging foreign film.] (S. Axmaker)
Life of Riley
Kino <span class=SpellE>Lorber</span>, 108 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.95, <span class=SpellE>Blu</span>-ray: $29.95, Mar. 10 Volume 30, Issue 3
Life of Riley
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