A look at Out Of Season (PG)
Well known French movie actor Mathieu is determined to use a bit of down time to rest and recuperate so he books into a seaside resort’s vast spa hotel.
It’s in the spa and on the massage table where Mathieu (Guillaume Canet) contemplates switching from film roles to the theatre.
So we see him constantly perusing scripts, and then finding himself besieged by fans who are real selfie hunters when he steps out for a coffee.
A couple of beach therapy sessions with an over-the-top non-stop talking sage (Hugo Dillon) ultimately reveals to we viewers what’s troubling Mathieu.
He’d walked out of an on-stage production back in Paris and despite calming phone messages from his extra busy city-based wife (she’s a TV news anchor) he still has to answer some nasty calls from his furious theatre director.
And then suddenly things change. He’s contacted by old flame Alice (Alba Rohrwacher) with whom he had a torrid affair when they were both in Paris.
After their first meeting they click once more. We see them walking along the lonely beaches, but the best scenes are shot inside a retirement village which Mathieu attends.
Alice works alongside the retirees and also teaches piano there. Mathieu is a guest at the concert, highlighted by two impressive bird imitators who tweet and cackle along the rows of seated older folk who call for an encore.
They’re out again at the sleepy resort’s top restaurant. Before their meals arrive, let alone their wine orders, the maitre d’hotel engages Mathieu in a long-winded appraisal of the actor’s movie roles.
But unfortunately for Mathieu and Alice the romance tapers off, particularly as the call of Paris continues to ring in Mathieu’s ears.
Alice tearfully accepts what will be their second ending and reluctantly says her goodbyes.
As a regular cinema goer I often feel sorry and anguished for the secondary characters who know nothing about the major storylines in movies.
Here, we’ve got Alice’s husband (Sharif Andoura) who’s one of the town’s main GPs and a local councillor, not forgetting Mathieu’s wife who we hear but never see.
It’s a slow but heart-warming romance. Three stars.
And coming up for us is the must-see Vatican movie Conclave.
The Pope is dead and a senior cardinal (Ralph Fiennes) has to oversee the process of selecting the new Pope.
The world’s cardinals, the most powerful church leaders on the planet, gather at the Vatican to become involved in the vote process.
A favourite of mine, Stanley Tucci, is one of these cardinals.
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