Beloved French veterans spice up this frothy love triangle
★★★½
M. 94 minutes. In cinemas
Riviera Revenge is French cinema at its frothiest, with three of its most beloved veterans leading the dance. Sabine Azéma and André Dussollier are cast as Annie and Francois, a couple whose 50- year marriage is based on her willingness to put up with his prejudices.
A retired general, he's prone to injecting military attitudes and routines into their family life, as we see during the opening scene at Annie's birthday lunch when he junks a chorus of Happy Birthday in favour of celebrating her with his own rewritten version of the La Marseillaise.
His eldest son, Amaury (Gael Giraudeau), who has followed him into the army, cheerfully sings along, but Amaury's siblings, Adrien (Sebastien Chassagne) and Capucine (Joséphine De Meaux) can only hang their heads and look glum.
Shortly afterwards, however, Francois' world comes crashing down around his own head with his discovery of a bundle of love letters revealing a fling that Annie had with one of their friends 35 years earlier.
Writer-director Ivan Calbérac, who is also a playwright, came up with his script after reading a news report about a 92-year-old Sicilian who became Italy's oldest divorcee when he split with his wife of many years after a similar revelation. Calbérac decided that an adaptation of the story could be perfect for Azéma and Dussollier, who have played husband and wife on screen no less than 10 times.
And as Boris, the third member of the love triangle, he settled on the suave Thierry Lhermitte, whose own long career has centred on his mastery of the comedy of manners.
When confronted with the letters, Annie responds with a perfect Gallic shrug and says it all happened so long ago that she can barely remember it.
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