A rich but uncultured provincial businessman falls for a local actress and pushes himself into her circle of arty friends. Initially they see him as a Philistine and treat him as a joke, but their attitudes change when he becomes a potential buyer for their work. Meantime, his interior designer wife is forcing her chintzy styles onto his sister who has moved in nearby, and his bodyguard and his driver are having to deal with their own shortcomings in their amorous encounters with a local barmaid.
The interwoven sub-plots, the intelligent characterisation and the witty dialogue make this a sophisticated drama in the best sense. The film indulges neither the shallow bourgeoisie nor the supercilious bohemians, but all the characters are real and believable.
If the plot offers no easy solutions to the complex needs and insecurities of its characters, it does at least show each of them, in his or her own way, learning something significant about themselves and about other people. The two leading characters in particular come to see each other in a more accepting light, and a direction for the future is opened up.
The confidence, intelligence and humour with which director Agnes Jaoui presents these tangled lives are a pleasure to experience, and she offers a refreshing and very European alternative to the more clichéd characterisation favoured by Hollywood.
