Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci
«I want to laugh, travel, fuck.»
Daniel (Daniel Auteuil) leaves his publishing house. He walks briskly and purposefully, files under his arm. Around the corner, he meets Patrick (Gérard Depardieu), his old friend. «We need to have dinner,» says Patrick. Delighted, Daniel even offers to come to the house on Saturday. Suddenly, he thinks of the reaction of his wife, Isabelle (Sandrine Kiberlain), when he tells her the news: catastrophe. Patrick has left Laurence, Isabelle's best friend, to take up with the young, sensual Emma (Adriana Ugarte), who probably doesn't look half his age.
Finally, between Daniel's clumsiness in trying to push back the date without conviction, and Patrick's insistence, the dinner is set for Saturday. Isabelle accepts after some rhetorical posturing on her husband's part. The big night arrives. Tense atmosphere. Patrick and Emma appear. Daniel is dazed. He's seduced by Emma like a teenager discovering love. And then he feels uneasy: not only is the age difference enormous, but the young woman is already in a relationship with Patrick. Dinner promises to be full of blunders and fantasies.
Critics have been extremely harsh with Daniel Auteuil, not only for his acting, but above all for his overall direction. Some of the criticisms are legitimate, while others are nothing more than crass, ideological bad faith on the part of critics who only accept humor if it reinforces their beliefs and pats them on the back. In short, In love with my wife can be blamed, but we can't vomit on him as so many journalists have done with relish.
The film, underneath the comedy genre, isn't hilarious, indeed. It's not even very funny, that goes without saying. And yet, like most French comedies today, it's still quite likeable and enjoyable. But that's a matter of taste, all right. You can appreciate Daniel's stammering in front of Emma, you can laugh at Daniel's frozen smile, and you can finally have the intelligence to understand the film's deliberate ridiculousness. But you may also find the character Daniel annoying, the film corny, and the comic devices - such as the camera locking the characters around the table in a tight shot, or the simple gestural comedy - too classic, even outdated.
On the other hand, to say that the film is misogynistic, sexist, and that Daniel Auteuil, «that old fart who thinks he can seduce a young woman at his age», is insulting to the character of Isabelle and to all women, is false! The critics who attack the film in this way simply don't get it. At no point are women portrayed in a degrading way. At no point does the film show Daniel as having any chance of seducing Emma. Even Patrick, in fact, never seduced her.
In love with my wife carries a moral message, declaring praise for women and wives. Although this message seems a little too visible and heavy-handed on screen, I guess some people just don't get it. The film deals with men's fantasies and their stability as they age; they can have the most beautiful woman in the world by their side, end up having a crisis and imagine happiness elsewhere, in a return to youth, before coming back to reality and loving her as she is. All the dream scenes are not for nothing caricatures of youth rising from the ashes of old age. And Daniel imagines himself as a writer, shirt open, in Venice, whispering to Emma: «You are my happiness, my life, my youth». Between you and me, gentlemen, who doesn't get it?
«I've been such a jerk.»
Write to the author : loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com
Photo credit: © Praesens-Film
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