Mon légionnaire

Nika (the late Ina Marija Bartaite) arrives on Corsica from Ukraine to join Vlad (Aleksandr Kuznetsov), her boyfriend who serves in the French Foreign Legion. Meanwhile a new officer, Maxime (Louis Garrel) and his wife Céline (Camille Cottin) adapt to their new lives - the latter having to reconcile her high-flying legal career with the expectations of the place in the military community of an officer's spouse. While their men undertake tours of duty in Mali, the women left behind on Corsica engage in various social activities (coffee mornings, etc).

I usually like character-based dramas but this one seems to be especially dull, meaning the bursts of military action - something that would not usually appeal to me - in Mali were a welcome relief. As for the acting, everyone is good - with the possible exception of Kuznetsov, and that may be because Vlad is written as such a one-note military man any actor portraying him would find it tough to shine. It definitely makes a change to see Garrel playing a less arty, more realistic and (slightly) more macho character than he usually portrays: he also seems to have gained some muscle for the role, to good effect.

Worth watching once, but the rather random plot ("What was the point?" asked my companion) means I will not be watching twice.