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Bon Voyage
* * 1/2

Walking into "Bon Voyage", I just assumed, based on the subject matter (France in the days just before the Nazi occupation), the director (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, whose previous works have included such epics as "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "The Horseman on the Roof") and the stars (including such icons of French cinema as Isabelle Adjani and Gerard Depardieu), that the film was going to be a solid, straightforward drama. Imagine my surprise to discover that the film is a lot lighter and goofier than it would seem-despite the surface appearances, it comes surprisingly close to flat-out farce. It begins in early 1940 as a glamorous movie star (Adjani, naturally) begs a childhood friend (Gregori Derangere) to help her dispose of the body of a man who "accidentally" died in her apartment. Caught with the corpse in the trunk, the friend is sentenced to prison while the star remains silent. A few months later, they are unexpectedly reunited during the panic that befell Paris as the Germans were approaching; the two of them then find themselves involved in a plot to help a scientist (whose experiments with "heavy water" could influence the outcome of the war) escape France to England-a chain of events that also includes a fellow ex-con (Yvan Attal), a sexy scientific assistant (Virginie Ledoyen), a high-ranking politician (Depardieu) and a seemingly helpful guy who may have some secrets of his own (Peter Coyote).

"Bon Voyage" is largely preposterous-everything is too broad and silly to be believed (Depardieu, for example, has been directed to stumble in nearly every scene) but it moves too slowly to ever really work as a full-out farce. I can’t really recommend it because I don’t think that Rappeneau ever quite pulls things together-however, it does have a certain charm to it that makes watching it relatively painless. The actors all seem to be having a good time (especially Adjani, doing a nice spoof of her own diva persona) with the material and I can think of worse things to do than watch pretty French women gambol about. (Adjani, nearly 30 years since "The Story of Adele H." is still so impossibly gorgeous and young-looking that you suspect she must have a portrait of herself aging in an attic somewhere.) As it is, this is one of those films that you might shrug off in the theater only to find yourself watching it on television, where I suspect its modest virtues will play better.

Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau. Starring Isabelle Adjani, Yvan Attal, Gregori Derangere, Virginie Ledoyen, Gerard Depardieu and Peter Coyote.

Crimson Gold
* * *

"Crimson Gold" has been described by some as an Iranian version of "Taxi Driver"-however, this doesn’t mean that the film is full of flashy visuals, relentless cynicism and horrifying violence. Instead, the film (directed by acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi and written by the even-more-acclaimed Abbas Kiarostami) takes a restrained look at Hussein (Hossain Emadeddin), a pizza deliveryman who, as we learn in the opening scene, commits a shocking act; the remainder flashes back to the events and petty insults and resentments that led up to that moment. To describe the film any further would do it a disservice because the power comes not from the story itself but in the way that the story is told. For example, there is a long sequence in which Hussein, attempting to deliver a pizza, is forced to stay in one place by police who are arresting young people emerging from an unsanctioned party; nothing much of importance in terms of narrative occurs during this segment, yet it is absolutely spellbinding in the way that it allows use to become more familiar with both Hussein and his environment. Thanks to the contributions of Panahi and Kiarostami (who previously collaborated on the acclaimed "The White Balloon") and the mesmerizing performance by Emadeddin), "Crimson Gold" (which won the top prize at the Chicago Film Festival and the Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year) is a powerful drama that is well worth whatever effort you have to make in order to seek it out.

Written by Abbas Kiarostami. Directed by Jafar Panahi. Starring Hossain Emadeddin and Kamyar Sheisi

-- Capsule Reviews by Peter Sobczynski

Copyright © 2004 Peter Sobczynski
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.