Alceste à bicyclette

Gauthier Valence is a successful actor. He plays in a prime time soap opera which earns him enough glory to be recognized in the streets and markets and enough money to allow him to put on stage the most ambitious production any French actor dreams about – Moliere's Le Misanthtrope. Of course he sees himself in the lead role of Alceste, but for the second role of the play, Philinte, he wants to get the participation of his friend, Serge Tanneur, who retired a few years before in a remote corner of France, on the shores of the Atlantic. When traveling to obtain his friend's (and maybe rival) participation in the production he will find not only that Serge believes that he is the one fit for the lead role, but also that in order to enroll him he will need to engage in a game of rehearsals, first for one day, then for the rest of the week. Did Serge really give up acting, or is he playing a game of power with his old friend and rival, who apparently has so different conceptions about life and acting? Who is the playwright, who is the director, who is the actor in this play?

The series of rehearsals that the two actors play occupy much and the best part of the film. I am just sorry that I did not know how important a role the text of Moliere plays in this film, I would have read it before, as the feelings of the two characters are often expressed by the two actors using the replicas of the play and through the way they act alternatively the roles of Alceste and Philinte. It is amazing how fascinating are the scenes where we see the two men working together and confronting each other. Their role swapping is at the same time a fight for control and a way of marking the differences in their approaches towards acting and towards life, it defines the relation with the other characters (yes, there are several women in the story and one of them plays a relatively small but key role – cherchez la femme), and the complex relations of respect, rivalry and friendship between the two of them.

'Alceste a bicyclette' (English title – Cycling with Moliere) directed by Philippe Le Guay is the second excellent French film that I see in the time of a few weeks (the other one was the Allen-esque 'Dans la maison'), and the lead actor (as Serge Taneur) is again Fabrice Luchini who is also a co-author of the script. His partner is Lambert Wilson whose figure is maybe recognizable from a number of Hollywood productions, but who really gets here a great role in the tradition of the French theater and cinema. There is some good camera work by Jean-Claude Larrieu using the fabulous beaches at the Atlantic and the endless roads with the heroes riding bicycles, but most of the action takes place between the walls of the decrepit and overpriced house where the two actors rehearse Moliere. It may be the dream of any French actor to play Moliere or a play turning around Moliere's texts. It is the dream of any lover of French cinema and theater to see such a film. But better come prepared. Read Le Misanthrope first!

Accepting the world and its ways as they are - however crooked they may be - and be sociable, at the risk of falseness and compromise or sticking to one's moral principles and remaining upright at the risk of keeping a stiff upper lip and becoming estranged from others, such was the problematics in Molière's classic comedy of manners 'The Misanthrope or the Cantankerous Lover', written in 1666.

Verifying the relevance and the permanence of this questioning three centuries and a half later, such is Philippe Le Guay's objective in 'Alceste à bicyclette' (Bicycling with Molière), a contemporary cinematic comedy of manners, which might well become a classic of the genre in the years to come.

Our present-time Alceste goes by the name of Serge Tanneur and is personified in a tailor-made role by Fabrice Luchini. Serge is the very type of the demanding actor who places his art above everything else. He is now retired in his home on the Île de Ré because he refuses to go on playing in inferior commercial products. Face to him meet the Philinte of today, Gauthier Valence, his former friend, a fellow-actor who also thinks high of his art, but who has squandered his talent in basely commercial stuff, especially in a TV soap entitled "Dr. Morange", which has made him a star adored by audiences, especially female.

What brings together the two thespians, one stern and pure, the other wavering and impure, is the latter's wish to clean up his tarnished reputation by grappling with loftier material. To this end he is to direct - what else? - 'The Misanthrope' and to play - who else? - the role of Philinte in a prestigious production of Molière's masterpiece. And who has he considered for the part of Alceste ? Well done, good guess: Serge Tanneur!

The question is: will the misanthropist accept to play 'The Misanthrope' alongside a traitor to his art like Gauthier ? Naturally, nothing is less certain...

Revolving around the improbable reunion of two former friends turned enemies, 'Alceste à bicyclette' could be content to be an amusing ego vs. ego comedy, served by two major actors. Which it is actually: how could it be otherwise with Fabrice Luchini confronting Lambert Wilson, the former haughty, aggressive, never getting off his high horse and the latter charming, cajoling but maybe even more devious than his partner? But a closer look reveals a much more complex work dealing intelligently with various themes among which: - how to play a classic and keep current audiences interested, - purity and intolerance; opportunism and sociability, - the moral's of today's world - friendship and betrayal, - true love and philandering. Be reassured though. Philippe Le Guay is not one of those arty artists worked up about things and always giving lessons. On the contrary, the author does his utmost to help the medicine go down by resorting to the best excipient ever, comedy. For sure, when it comes to humor, Le Guay masters all the ropes to perfection. In this particular movie, he runs the whole gamut of laughter, from the most basic sight gags (Lambert Wilson trapped in a jacuzzi run wild; the same repeatedly falling off his bike) to the most sophisticated ones (Serge's way to avenge himself). And that is not all. Not content to be intelligent and funny, "Alceste à bicyclette" has genuine moments of emotion (I refer, in particular to two really moving sequences, that of Serge's return to life through love for an Italian woman and the other featuring a teenager acting in porn movies unexpectedly transcended by her sensitive reading of Molière's text). French audiences were in no way deterred by a movie dealing essentially with the rehearsals of a play written in the language of the 17th century. Over a million people came to see it. This just shows what wonders Philippe Le Guay and his faithful cohort Fabrice Luchini can work. They already done it with 'L'année Juliette', 'Le coût de la vie' and 'Les femmes du 6ème étage'. Let us hope they will do it again soon.

This is an intelligent film, a rather sour, grown-up comedy that captures something of the misanthropic theme of the Molière play that has a large role in it. But you really don't need to be familiar with "The Misanthrope" (1666) to enjoy this film. It does help, however, if you love good acting, are a bit of a francophile, and are prone to occasional bouts of contempt for your fellow human beings.

Once you begin to note the key differences in the temperaments of these two old friends, the scope of the film expands. It's about the continued relevance of classic drama thanks to unchanging human nature. It's about the art of acting itself, the struggle to nail one's character through a peculiar mixture of repetition and imagination. It's about the problem of casting roles, about why actors, however experienced and ambitious they might be, just cannot play certain parts credibly. It's about how popular entertainers are rewarded handsomely for allowing their audience to avoid confronting the flaws in human nature. And it's about the line between success and failure in life and in love, and how, Hollywood notwithstanding, having real talent and genuine feeling is no guarantee of a happy outcome.

The setting on the windswept Atlantic island (Ile de Ré) is used to great effect as a way of concentrating the concealed hostility between the two main characters. And there is a lovely homage to a scene in François Truffaut's most famous film that should please film buffs. This is a literate film and one which Truffaut himself would surely have admired.

French director Philippe Le Guay's Alceste à Bicyclette / Bicycling with Molière is based on actor Fabrice Luchini's original idea. The film is all about actors, their homes, moods, relationships and worlds. The scenario is written in such a manner that this film is also able to discuss the concepts of "good actor" versus "bad actor". They make viewers discover that all actors are absolutely conscious of their image. There is one major thing which all viewers can easily identify in the film. It is related to some actors and their essential need of personal space especially due to their being popular on television. Apart from actors and acting, Bicycling with Molière throws light on how the presence of a woman impacts male bonding. In many ways, it can be construed as this film's minor yet useful subplot. It gains considerable weight due to the benign presence of Italian actress Maya Sensa. Any discussion about this film would not make much sense unless the importance of actor Fabrice Luchini in French cinema is discussed. He has become an important personality of French cultural life. Apart from films, he is seen on TV talk shows reading excerpts from literary as well as philosophical works. He is the best reason to watch this film as good/poor actor Fabrice Luchini takes his revenge on bad/rich actor Lambert Wilson. Before concluding it can be said that actors riding bicycles is a good sign of people in show business coming out of their comfort zones. This statement is as close in reality as stating that in the field of acting there are no friends as nobody would like to miss the opportunity of playing an important role.

This is a first-rate movie. I've seen it four or five times by now - I am using it in a class - and each time I watch it, I marvel anew at the talent of the two lead actors, two stars of today's French cinema, Lambert Wilson and Fabrice Lucchini, and the quality of the script.

One could summarize it by saying that it is the story of two actors who rehearse for a touring production of Molière's masterpiece, The Misanthrope. One, Serge, played by Lucchini, has become bitter in his lonely retirement. The other, Gauthier, is a financial and romantic success, but wants to accomplish something worthy of his artistic merits as well. In the course of rehearsing the play, both find that the words Molière gave to his misanthropic protagonist, Alceste, allow them to express their own growing hatred of the world around them.

If you don't know the play, I don't know how much of an effect this movie will make. Since the play is one of the classics of French theater, the director and producer could assume that many in their French audience would remember the play from their school days, the way at least some Americans are able to remember something about Hamlet from high school, and so understand what the two male leads are doing. If, because you don't know Molière's play, you can't do that, I don't know what you will get out of this very fine film.