LE WEEK-END (2013, UK, 93m, 15) ***½
Comedy, Drama
dist. Front Row Filmed Entertainment (UK), Music Box Films (USA); pr co. Film4 / Free Range Films
d. Roger Michell; w. Hanif Kureishi; pr. Kevin Loader; ph. Nathalie Durand (Colour | 2.35:1); m. Jeremy Sams; ed. Kristina Hetherington; pd. Emmanuelle Duplay; ad. Cécile Arlet Colin.
cast: Jim Broadbent (Nick), Lindsay Duncan (Meg), Jeff Goldblum (Morgan), Olly Alexander (Michael), Judith Davis (Eve), Brice Beaugier (Robert Ertel), Xavier de Guillebon (Jean-Pierre Degremont), Marie-France Alvarez (Victoire La Chapelle), Charlotte Léo (Dominique Ertel), Lee Michelsen (Harry Rose), Denis Sebbah (Christopher Aragues), Sébastien Siroux (Valentin Lefevre), Igor Gotesman (Montmartre Receptionist), Olivier Audibert (Taxi Driver), Sophie-Charlotte Husson (Plaza Receptionist), Etienne Dalibert (Hotel Porter), Mauricette Laurence (Old Lady in Church), Gabriel Mailhebiau (Chez Dumonet Waiter), Violaine Baccon (Girl on motorbike), Damien Favreau (La Dame de Pic Maitre D.).
Broadbent and Duncan play a married couple who travel to Paris to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary, only to confront the reality of their ageing relationship as they attempt to breathe new life into it. Kureshi’s highbrow script won’t be for all tastes, but it has many intelligent observations to offer on dying relationships. Michell gives his actors plenty of room to inject their own interpretations of their characters into their performance. The result is an often funny and frequently biting commentary on marriage and the ageing process.
