It’s a shame that one of the best working actresses in France, Sandrine Kiberlain (Mademoiselle Chambon), only has a minor role in this breezy male-centric midlife crisis comedy. The radiant Kiberlain plays the patient wife of Michel (writer-director-star Bruno Podalydès), a 50-year-old graphic designer who’s sick of his workaday rat-race cubicle job. Through a tip from his boss, Michel becomes obsessed with the idea of a kayak trip and soon is paddling gently down a stream determined to find himself. Michel gets stranded a few miles into his journey and ends up on an extended stay at a woodsy café, flirting with a couple of waitresses (having a kinky fling with one and a platonic affair with the other). Podalydès’s script is a plotless wonder, although it’s easy to be charmed by the bumbling Michel. Still, achieving empathy with his character requires a very European sensibility, not to mention a tolerance for the casual adultery that Michel engages in with no comeuppance whatsoever. A distinctly French comedy about one man’s struggle with midlife bugbears, this is recommended. (M. Sandlin)
The Sweet Escape
Icarus, 105 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $26.99 Volume 33, Issue 4
The Sweet Escape
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