Après vous... (2003)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Pierre Salvadori

Writers:

Danièle Dubroux (idea)
Benoît Graffin (writer)

Release Date:

17 December 2003 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A very tasty comedy with a little French twist.

Plot:

Antoine (Auteuil) saves Louis (Garcia) from hanging himself, though in his attempt to get Louis back on his feet, Antoine gets caught in a romantic triangle.

Plot Keywords:

Clerk | Chinese Restaurant | Love Triangle | Wine Drinking | Attempted Suicide

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Daniel Auteuil	...	Antoine Letoux
José Garcia	...	Louis
Sandrine Kiberlain	...	Blanche Grimaldi
Marilyne Canto	...	Christine
Michèle Moretti	...	Martine
Garance Clavel	...	Karine
Fabio Zenoni	...	André
Jocelyne Desverchère	...	Sandrine the Florist
Didier Menin	...	Man at Thai Restaurant
Jean-Claude Lecas	...	Cook
Blandine Pélissier	...	Nurse
Jean-Charles Dumay	...	Serge the Sommelier
Ange Ruzé	...	Young Waiter
Élise Otzenberger	...	Hairdresser
Jean-Luc Abel	...	The Inspector

Also Known As:

After You (International: English title) (USA)
Fleur de peau (France) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

France:110 min | USA:110 min | Argentina:110 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:15 | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-7 | Argentina:Atp | USA:R

Company:

Les Films Pelléas

Quotes:

Blanche: I'm not an easy girl... but I'm very reconciliating.

Soundtrack:

Never Ending Dreams

the game of love and chance strikes again...

Antoine (Daniel Auteuil) is a head waiter in a chic Parisian restaurant and lives with his girlfriend Christine (Marilyne Canto). His work occupies a lot of place in his life. One evening, by going through a park to be more quickly at his apartment, he saves from suicide a neurotic man Louis (José Garcia). After vainly attempted to take him back to his close relatives, he takes him under his wing and succeeds to find him a job as a waiter in his workplace. Louis wanted to kill himself because his love affair with his ex girlfriend Blanche (Sandrine Kiberlain) went unravel. Antoine found her again because he wants to reconcile them again. She's a charming florist and, you guess it he becomes enamored of her. From then onwards, his well-ordered life starts to showcase signs of poor running.

I'm a little surprised but glad to discover that this little high charged, hilarious comedy enjoys a small reputation abroad. About twenty reviews have already been posted for this film and most of them gave the movie thumbs up. I will post another positive one in spite of minor flaws Pierre Salvadori's film showcases.

Some will be probably surprised but the outset reminded me of Jean Renoir's classic "Boudu Sauvé Des Eaux" (1932), perhaps because of the quite prestigious situation the main protagonists of the films occupy and maybe also because they save from suicide ill-fated men who are cracking up. And then, the saved ones immerse themselves in their rescuers' lives and disrupt their living environment. But although both movies are comedies, they don't belong to the same sub-category. Pierre Salvadori preferred not to follow the steps of the master which bestowed his own work with a strong social satire whiff. There's no trace of it in "Après Vous", although there may be an inkling of it in the following sequence: when Antoine takes Louis in the cellar and shows him the names of the different wines. Louis is afraid not to recognize the right wines and I think that Antoine answers him the customers ape the connoisseurs and don't know anything about wines. The director preferred to choose the road of the sentimental comedy and to especially focus on Antoine's turbulent love life.

Pierre Salvadori commands his film at arm's length and delays the most momentous moment of the movie (the meeting between Louis and Blanche) to better linger on Louis' new life and especially on Antoine's love trouble. In a way, by making Louis work in his restaurant, by undertaking to reconcile him with Blanche and unfortunately by having a crush on her, he is a victim of his generosity. And Louis doesn't really realize the situations in which he puts Antoine. There's a funny sequence around the beginning of the film during which Antoine is at Louis' grandmother's and tries to alter Louis' suicide note in a placating, comforting letter. Then, deep down inside him, he thinks of leaving his ex girlfriend to live with Blanche and has to lie to his protégé and circle not to arouse suspicion about his real motivations. The movie becomes very enjoyable when it accumulates misunderstandings and embarrassing situations linked with Louis' job as a waiter or Antoine's sentimental trouble which the latter tries to escape by hilarious means (check the sequences in the Chinese restaurant). The scenario is also interspersed with droll lines: "how do you find the chicken? Dead".

A threesome of actors serves the film. Daniel Auteuil is able to provide enough caliber to his character to watch the film until the tail end and I would like to congratulate the user "writer's reign" for the tasty pun he inserted in his review: "maitre d'Auteuil". José Garcia who earlier showed in his career that he could hold comical as well as dramatic roles (Philippe Harel's "Extension Du Domaine De la Lutte, 1999) shines as the neurotic, wound up Louis, indirectly responsible of Antoine's mishaps. At last, Sandrine Kiberlain, a little frail, naive but the director never ridicules her. She was ideally cast as Blanche. In French, this name is also an adjective which means white and the actress has a somewhat pallid face which suits well to both the name and the personality of her character.

If the director honed his work with a palpable painstaking care for much of his work, there are little setbacks towards the end of the road. The end is thoroughly unexpected but was made in a rush and the trick of the lighter has been seen many times before. But these flaws aren't major enough to reject Salvadori's film. So, "Après Vous" and enjoy your film!