Bon voyage

It's wartime drama - WWII, with French and Jews and Germans, but this one is somehow fun, earnestly so. Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau co-wrote the script to his well-received film "Bon Voyage" (2003). Unlike director Bertrand Tavernier's "Safe Conduct" aka "Laissez-passer" (2002), w-d Rolf Schubel's "Gloomy Sunday" (1999), or w-d Claude Berri's "Lucie Aubrac" (1997), "Bon Voyage" is as chipper as its title sounds - c'est la vie (whatever) - and we have the beautiful talented Isabelle Adjani to thank for. It is her delightful performance throughout as the center of attraction (and attention), the cause and effect of it all, that made the film so enjoyable as it is. Hell, what's another derailment of her plan and expectations - will worry about that another time. The backbone of the story does revolve around a pair of young enthusiasts: Grégori Derangère as Frédéric and Virginie Ledoyen (from Francois Ozon's "8 Women") as Camille. The incomparable Gérard Depardieu, the witty Yvan Attal (of "My Wife is An Actress") and versatile Peter Coyote (juggling French, English and German here) are some of the stellar cast involved.

There are many characters coming and going in this plot of a movie, and how it's all juggled is a skilful knack that requires no analysis - Rappeneau is simply a genius. The story just builds upon itself, one episode after another, or even with overlapping events, but never confusing - that's the delight of it all, somehow every detail turns out right on the screen and we just lap it all up like a tastily presented French dessert, literally so. There's thrills, trills, tender hesitant moments and taut ominous escapes, all playing out in front of our eyes.

From reading the Director's Note on the Sony Pictures Classics' Bon Voyage official site, Rappeneau indicated this is his most personal and successful work ever. Depicting Bordeaux 1940 from memories of his childhood years is very much close to his heart and he "had worked and reworked the script for almost 3 years." This film is a labor of love all round, the cast and crew complementing the director's passion and a formidable script by collaborative writers along with the director and his son Julien - adaptation efforts by Gilles Marchand, Patrick Modiano, and Jérôme Tonnerre.

Music by Gabriel Yared (varied in tone from his previous film scores like "The English Patient" or "Talented Mr. Ripley"), who provided a befitting theme that kept the pace and rhythm of the plot going - almost like a train going non-stop, reflecting Adjani's Viviane's vivacious energy (even when she's tired), keeping her going as she meets whatever comes, walking on with head held high and stylish attire always, no looking back, let alone time for regrets.

Ah, mustn't forget the wonderfully translated, skilful subtitles by Ian Burley, who also did subtitles for films in Italian: "Bread and Tulips" (2000) aka Pane e tulipani, "The Last Kiss" (2001) aka L'ultimo bacio, and Tom Tykwer's "Heaven" (2002).

If you find this much too light a wartime relationship drama, try w-d Mäx Fäberböck's "Aimée and Jaguar" (1999, in German, based on a true story) with brilliant performances from Juliane Köhler as Aimée and Maria Schrader as Jaguar.

At nearly any film (except art-house showings) some viewers will arrive late, several by as many as ten minutes. `Bon Voyage' is one of those films with such an extraordinary opening scene (and the best in the movie) that one is reminded that no person begins a story or novel six or eight pages in; consider Hemingway's `After The Storm', demonstrating arguably the greatest opening sentence ever written. We are treated, as in the opening of `The English Patient', with that sense-straining struggle to exactly understand what we are seeing and that almost organic release as we know we have been masterfully played. This wonderful introduction plays as centerpiece the astonishingly beautiful Isabelle Adjani cast in the best lighting and angles imaginable. She portrays a film actress (Viviane Denvers) who along with her collection of friends, lovers and various other acquaintances must (or so they think) leave Paris on the eve of the Nazi takeover in 1940. That murder, love, conspiracy and high-tech military secrets are part and parcel of this mélange is all part of the fun.

And fun it is. With as many characters as are employed here, `Bon Voyage' requires careful attention to the comings and goings of all. It is probably fairly accurate that those in an invaded nation probably do not really know where to go or exactly what to do in the face of rumor, speculation, hearsay, and least important of all, facts. But we also see that human desire, duty and propinquity are undeniable factors in all matters.

The main threads of the story involve Gerard Depardieu (natty as Beaufort, the cabinet minister) in a desperate political situation, Peter Coyote (as Alex Winckler the journalist/writer), Professor Kopolski and his singular mission (played by Jean-Marc Stehle) and his assistant Camille (as rendered by beguiling Virginie Ledoyen). There are a number of other performers that appear throughout which add to the confusion but in actuality are adroitly woven into the tapestry that is `Bon Voyage' and serve to act as stirrers that mix the drink.

Truly a testament to excellent writing, the complexities of Ms. Adjani's character are the common link between all that is there for us to see. She is the one you cannot take your eyes off (I cannot recall as wonderful a wardrobe on a beautiful woman since Ashley Judd in "Eye of the Beholder"), and she is the one whose own ostensible self-interest drives the hamster wheel of energy that we observe.

Almost never did the audience laugh out loud, yet the humor is unrelenting and perhaps because we strain to hear the next line or get our bearings we have no time to pause. Just monitoring the cast is a job in itself and Isabelle Adjani's ephemeral appearances are so special that there is no doubt the viewers were quite literally mesmerized.

This superb French farce is brilliant, and I normally don't like farce of any kind. The actors are wonderful, the story line is fantastic, the photography and staging are beautiful, and the atmosphere of the film is extraordinarily engaging. My wife, teen-age daughter, and I went to see the film this evening and all three of us absolutely loved it - a rarity in itself.

But what is perhaps the film's strongest suit is its gentle comedy and insight into human nature. Even when the French are making complete fools of themselves their essential qualities shine through, and this film brings new meaning to the term "coquettish."

I most heartily recommend Bon Voyage.

In Paris, a few months before the Nazi invasion, the manipulative actress Viviane Denvers (Isabelle Adjani) uses her former sweetheart Frédéric Auger (Grégori Deràngere) to hide the body of a man killed by her. Frédéric hits the car, the dead man is found and he is sent to prison. When the Germans invade France, Frédéric escapes with another prisoner, Raoul (Yvan Attal), and they become friends. In the runaway to Bordeaux, they meet in the train Camille (Virginie Ledoyen), the young assistant of the physicist Professeur Kopolski (Jean-Marc Stehlé), who is trying to leave France with his research of heavy water. Once in Bordeaux, the group meets Viviane with her new lover, the minister of state Jean-Étienne Beaufort (Gérard Depardieu), and is chased by a German spy, the journalist Alex Winckler (Peter Coyote), while Paris is falling and the population is confused.

What a delightful and magnificent romantic adventure "Bon Voyage" is! The excellent and complex screenplay has action, romance, war, comedy, espionage, drama and lots of characters, played by a fantastic cast, indeed a constellation of stars; the direction is stunning; the music score is wonderful. I really loved this marvelous film, and I have to finish my review due to my limitation of adjectives to describe such a gem. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Viagem do Coração" ("Travel of the Heart")

Director and auteur Jean-Pierre Rappenau was 8 years old during the spring of 1940 as France's Third Republic disintegrated in a matter of a few weeks. It was a time, he says, when "all the adults were a little bit insane." He and the production staff have lovingly and meticulously recreated that world in a film where all the characters are essentially fictional. The structure, a classic farce, is ideal for the period as multiple plot lines zip and intersect only to come together in a logical, satisfying conclusion. The peg for this plot is Frederic, played by brilliant newcomer Gregory Derangere, who is fully up to playing opposite Adjani, Depardieu and Ledoyen. The real strength of the film is in its supporting performances. M. Rappeneau has cast the film exquisitely with actors who volunteered ideas for both action and dialogue and who know and prove that it is possible to fully realize a character with just two short sentences of dialogue. Though not yet as widely influential as Renoir's 'Rules of the Game,' 'Bon Voyage' richly deserves to be a companion piece to that classic. Though it demands a lot of the audience, it gives much back. One of its demands is tolerance for a certain coyness and misdirection as to the exact genre we are watching: a crime melodrama, no, a spy thriller, ah, a romantic comedy. Recommend it to cinemaphile friends. Just be sure to let them discover for themselves that it is a romantic comedy.