Détrompez-vous

Détrompez-Vous is a polished, sanitized French romantic comedy with François Cluzet and Alice Taglioni as Lionel and Lisa; Roschdy Zem and Mathilde Sagnier as Thomas and Carole. A certain gloss of American influence is evident in the indistinguishably comfortable apartments and nice clothes supplied to these two couples. Model-pretty Alice Taglioni is granted a Diane Keaton-esquire cute frumpiness (Annie Hall vintage), while M. Cluzot has an unmistakable Dustin Hoffman look. Taglioni is a children's book illustrator, Cluzot a gynecologist she visits. Détromper means get smart (or "undecieve") and Cluzot and Taglioni are the ones who wise up (sort of) after they learn Saginer and Zem, their respective mates, are involved in a hot affair. The question arises: is this sort of situation ripe material for comedy? Zem and Taglioni have a little girl and the other couple a little boy, which makes for a cute finale, after a series of episodes that are on the whole more ingenious than amusing. Zem's an engineer-architect; Sagnier seems to specialize in home-wrecking.

Avoiding any confrontation, the "undeceived" pair try surreptitiously to block their respective spouses' affair. The Diane Keaton stand-in takes to satisfying Zem orally before he goes out so he can't perform with the home-wrecker, and so on. Eventually Lionel and Lisa say, What the hell? If Thomas and Carole want to get it on, let them. Only the misused ones stage one last romantic holiday trip with their cheating spouses--by accident, wouldn't you know, at the very same rocky watering place--and this derails the affairs and the couples get back together to their original positions. Bourgeois stability is restored and nothing transgressive--or ultimately very funny--has happened.

The French press was not generous with this bauble. As one review pointed out, if the two betrayed spouses had simply confronted their mates about the infidelity, they'd never gotten involved in a series of time-wasting and twisted preventive measures--but there would have been no film. The bright look of the film and the smooth acting make our ninety minutes less painful than they might have been, but do little to engender sympathy for the characters or their machinations. A waste of everybody's time.

Seen in Paris October 28, 2007 at the UGC Danton.

I saw "Game of Four" at the COLCOA festival in Los Angeles last night. Alright, I may have been the person in the theater who laughed the most, however in most cases everyone was laughing along with me.

Despite the bad reviews, I knew François Cluzet, Mathilde Seigner, and especially Alice Taglioni could not let me down. Well, actually I was afraid that they were going to. And then when they delivered a smart, painstakingly funny movie that was better than the other supposed comedies I had seen at the festival, I had to wonder. Why is everyone trashing this film? The review on IMDb almost made me skip this film and it definitely made my friend skip it (why waste money, right???).

When model-esquire Alice Taglioni is supposed to play a dowdy housewife whose husband isn't paying attention to her anymore, it's funny, because she's actually still very beautiful. So she sticks on a pair of glasses and wears supposedly frumpy clothes (at least at first). She is still 95% more beautiful than other women, including co-star Mathilde Seigner, who is also a delight to watch.

The characters that Alice Taglioni and François Cluzet whip up are especially conniving, but in a sweet and sensitive way that make you ache for their situation. When more people see this movie, I'm sure the rating will be more like 7 point something. I, personally, however gave it a 9.

Not sure it's fully comedy. Yeh there are some points which consider as comedy . I don't understand the idea of this movie, is it open marriage? Or what. In the end there is no conclusion.

Infidelity destroy lives , families , kids, but here it's all fun n games.

Saw this film last night in Tijuana and enjoyed it, although not quite as much as I would want to (Spanish title is "Cambiamos de Pareja?", or "Shall we Swap Mates/Partners?". I've always been impressed by title translations in Mexico; "the Sound of Music" became "La Novicia Rebelde" or "The Rebel Novice (Nun)").

As opposed to what other reviewers here have posted, I was disappointed in the character of Lionel, I found him to be a non-entity and kept wishing he would fire up. And yes, the coincidences are contrived, but you have to suspend your disbelief before you even walk up to the ticket booth for any movie (other than a documentary, perhaps), so that didn't bother me quite as much as others.

Whereas I could nitpick some aspects as others have, overall I found the film enjoyable and do not at all regret having spent my money (as opposed to "Avatar"!)

Let's be honest. This is not some amazing, life-changing movie. It's one really simple, relaxing, slightly funny (enough to get you in a good mood) movie. I believe that was the purpose of it all along, it's not supposed to shock or move you, it's supposed to make you feel comfortable and cosy. That's exactly why i gave it a good rating. Ideally, watch it on a calm Sunday evening with your partner, in bed, eating sweets.