Customer Reviews

My Wife is an Actress

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

"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.

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 $$$.

I had trouble sustaining much interest in Yvan Attal's "My Wife Is an Actress", a kind-of-not-really autobiographical film about a sportswriter, Yvan (Attal), married to famous actress Charlotte (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Attal's real-life wife). The film purports to tell about what it's like being married to a well-known actress, yet I could never develop much sympathy for, or rapport with, the characters. I just didn't care much about Yvan and Charlotte, though they seemed perfectly nice; I just never felt like I got to know them very well. I enjoyed the subplot involving Yvan's sister, Nathalie, and her husband Vincent much more, though I couldn't really figure out what the connection was between the two storylines. Oh well; quite honestly, I didn't spend much time thinking about it. And that's the problem.

A thoroughly enjoyable and low-key French comedy featuring Charlotte Gainsbourg (daughter of avant-pop musician Serge Gainsbourg) and her real-life husband, actor-director Yvan Attal, as a young couple whose marriage is going through a rough patch. She is (get this...) "Charlotte," an actress who is a national celebrity, recognized and stopped on the street by autograph seekers and well-wishers, and he is Yvan, her more pedestrian hubby, a simple sports writer who finds himself increasingly irritated by and jealous of the demands of her profession. Terrance Stamp is slightly miscast as Charlotte's British co-star an aging film idol whose sex appeal piques Yvan's suspicions (Stamp is a little too unappealing and plays his character too broadly), but on the whole, this is a very funny, very human comic drama. Worth checking out!

Charlotte is lovely as ever but the movie is too little plot and enjoyment. Two stars for a few very funny scenes, but not enough to keep one interested. Yvan is funny at times, but quite annoying during other scenes. Some of the jokes seemed forced and do we really need to see over a half dozen fully nude men in any one movie, for the sake of humour? 3 or more nude people (any sex) in any one movie in an attempt at humour is overdoing it, 7 naked men (also most quite explicity shown) is absurd.

"My Wife Is An Actress" is predicated on a cool concept. It follows the life of an actress named Charlotte, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, and her husband Yvan, played (and directed) by real-life husband Yvan Attal.

In other words, art mirrors life here very, very closely. You see Charlotte stopped on the street for photos, casually using her celebrity status to get the best seats at restaurants. Meanwhile, Yvan slowly simmers about various slights (he plays a sports journalist here) due to his reflected glory as "the husband of Charlotte."

Yvan reaches the boiling point when Charlotte crosses the Channel to make a movie with the great English star 'John' (last name never revealed). Yvan's character - goofy and endearing up until this point - comes off the rails. He reveals himself to be petty, annoying and just flat-out creepily obsessive. "My Wife..." ceases to be a comedy at this point. In fact, it ceases to be pleasing in all regards...

...but one. That one, of course, is the great Terence Stamp, who could read a phone book and make it worth your while. He's brilliant here once again as a slightly self-absorbed - but understandably magnetic - leading man.

Also worth noting: Keith Allen's brilliant take as a prototypical English film director. Perfect. [So, make it two reasons to watch.]

Overall, I found this movie to a charming romantic comedy, albeit one that is pretty lacking in overall plot. Charlotte Gainsbourg plays herself, a French movie star, who's husband (real life husband) Yvan Attal is having a hard time adjusting to his wife's noteriety. As he descends into the depths of jealousy, we are given a somewhat funny and interesting look into the mind of a man who at once loves his wife, but at the same time despises the fact that she will always be in the spotlight of both the public and the movie industry. The actors performances were great, especially Attal, who does a great job being both the comical and desparate husband. Also, watch for Ludivine Sagnier (of 8 Femmes and others) in a small role as a woman who causes Yvan to question his committment. Overall, it's a great movie for those looking for a light weight romantic comedy. Although a bit short on plot, the strong acting and great writing help to overcome this.

I really enjoyed this film. The story itself was nothing extraordinary, but it embodied the lovely sensitivity of French cinema. I liked it because it gave me a glance of French or European film industry that was so different from the glittery Hollywood. The actress in the film was portrayed as a real, sensible and normal person. I also realized after watching the film that the main characters were a real life couple and the husband was the director, which added another interesting layer to it. They did not even change their names in the film! I really liked the human qualities of this kind of production in comparison to the manufactured qualities of many commercial films. I felt that it was a collaboration of a group of young people whom were working with a modest budget. However, they have done a great job with the limited resources because they had something to say and they knew how to say it well. It was really about making art than making a product.

What is as intriguing about this film as the film itself is the background of the stars. Charlotte Gainsbourg is the daughter of the (in)famous Serge Gainsbourg, French singer-songwriter of great international cultural influence and English actress, Jane Birkin. Charlotte is married to her co-star, Yvan Attal, and the screenplay has its roots in their actual life--Yvan's difficulties in being married to someone recognized everywhere she goes.

While Charlotte isn't a great beauty in the typically American fashion, she has a compelling screen presence that makes her stardom believable. When in London to do a film with Terence Stamp (all the women in this film gush about what a "hottie" he is--and that's simply not believable), husband Yvan's doubts, fears, and jealousy come to full boil.

Stamp turns in a gorgeous performance as the archetypal self-involved, always-out-to-impress-the-little-people British actor--wowing the women (while just a bit tipsy) with quotes from plays and poetry. And Charlotte is credibly drawn to him, simply because he is an actor; she needn't justify her existence as a performer.

There are some truly funny scenes, especially with Yvan's pregnant sister and her husband who are in a seemingly endless battle over whether or not to circumcise their child. Like Woody Allen's Annie Hall, Yvan's sister has a lot of prickly reactions to the issue of Jewishness (she and Yvan are Jewish, neither of them have Jewish partners.)

This is a low-key film with some lovely moments, a fair bit of underlying truth about the illusory aspects of stardom, and fine performances across the board.
Highly recommended.