My Wife is an Actress: Amazon.ca: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal, Terence Stamp, No�mie Lvovsky, Laurent Bateau, Keith Allen, Jo McInnes, Ludivine Sagnier, Lionel Abelanski, Val�rie Leboutte, Annette Hazanavicius, Jean Abelanski, R�my Chevrin, Jennifer Aug�, Claude Berri, Pierre Grunstein: DVD

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A slight but appealing dramatic comedy, My Wife Is an Actress explores the marital downside of fame. It's about the hazards of being married to someone--in this case the fine French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, playing a fictionalized version of herself, also named Charlotte--whose profession and celebrity pose a constant threat to matrimonial harmony. The movie dispels the fantasy of a movie-star spouse (i.e., would you really want to marry Julia Roberts?), exploring the reality with adequate humor but precious little insight. Gainsbourg's actual husband, Yvan Attal, is also her director and costar, playing Charlotte's sports-reporter husband (named Yvan), and turning jealous when she gets friendly with her current film's costar, played with world-weary charm by Terence Stamp. Surely this scenario was fascinating for French filmgoers, and as lightweight drama it's a pleasant enough diversion. Unfortunately, Attal discreetly avoids the deeper details of his life. Instead we get the shallow version, still authentic but not authentic enough. --Jeff Shannon

Amazon.ca

Pour son passage à la réalisation, l’acteur Yvan Attal s’inspire de ses expériences personnelles et transforme en long métrage son court I Got A Woman. Ma femme est une actrice est un coup d’essai réussi, aux dialogues croquants et au romantisme inspirant, en hommage à ce mythique métier.

Yvan (Attal lui-même) est journaliste sportif et ne se distingue pas particulièrement par sa classe. Il est pourtant marié à Charlotte (Gainsbourg), étoile du grand écran. Lorsque celle-ci doit partir à Londres pour tourner avec le séduisant John (Terence Stamp), Yvan ne pourra s’empêcher de laisser la jalousie l’envahir.

Vivre avec une actrice, objet de toute l’attention et de tous les fantasmes, doit, certes, poser certains problèmes, et Yvan Attal traduit habilement ces difficultés. Mais c’est avant tout dans le jeu trompeur entre la réalité et la fiction que son travail prend tout son sens, puisqu’il forme avec Charlotte Gainsbourg un couple dans la vie. S’amusant avec notre voyeurisme, tout en gardant une distance salutaire avec son sujet, il fait également de son premier film une véritable déclaration d’amour à sa femme, son actrice au visage d’ange. Avec un humour qui rappelle parfois Woody Allen, un dynamisme à la Cukor et une bande sonore pimpante et sophistiquée, et malgré quelques personnages mal définis, Attal signe une comédie romantique tout à fait savoureuse. --Helen Faradji

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THE FRENCH, THEY ARE A FUNNY PEOPLE Jun 2 2004

By Guy De Federicis

Format:DVD

Yvan Attal, the French Woody Allen? Maybe. What's wrong with this film? Well, it doesn't amount to much. It's frivolous and unimportant. It needs a little Allen sermonizing on love and life to put a heart in the center of it's romantic spirit. What's right with this film? It's an engaging superficial comedic collage viewed as one would a not-very-deep but pleasing French painting of, say, summer people with parasols on a beach, or maybe a bird in a cage looking out the window to a beautiful morning while a lady with grey hair knits nearby. Suffice to say, I love this film. Director, writer and star Yvan Attal, who casts his real life wife, Charlotte Gainsbourg opposite him, is a comedic marvel, like a juggling, dancing all purpose clown at center stage of the circus refusing to let our eyes wander, as his ordinary life begins to unravel when he suddenly discovers a jealous streak towards his wife's romantic celebrity status. That is the thrust of the plot, but it all keeps rolling along in big, and little and sometimes contrived funny bits that pay off well.

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fun film Jan 6 2004

By Nick Lush

"My Wife is an Actress" is just a recent example of why the best films that are currently available are coming from overseas instead of from Hollywood. "Amelie", "Autumn Spring", "the Navigators", "Billy Elliot", "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels", "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie", "Morvern Callar", "Merci Pour le Chocolat", "Nowhere in Africa", "Y Tu Mama Tambien", and "L'Auberge Espagnole" are all further proof that it is the Europeans whose earnest and creative writing and interesting cinematography are at the cutting edge of today's film industry. This film is driven by Yvan Attal's neuroses which provides a fun glimpse into the daily workings of a sort-of-true-to-life celebrity couple. The screenplay is a lot of fun, and the film maintains a sort of self-deprecating humor and simultaneously energy that is a lot of fun to watch. It is especially humorous when you consider the marriages we have here like "Bennifer", Tom and Nicole/Penelope, and Britney's new marriage/annulment. I find it interesting that so many people are fascinated by real-life dysfunctional relationships in Hollywood, but when two celebrities attempt to make a film poking fun at their own problems, people disregard it. "My Wife is An Actress" is a fun and enjoyable film, and a great date movie. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone.

Hollywood fantasizes, France realizes Nov 22 2003

By A Customer

I found the acting in the movie very real, in touch with everyday life, not like a Hollywood movie experience, where fantasy is always the main element.
Very well done, i was up very late to finish watching it, very engaging and worth the $$$.