April 11, 2024
FILM: COUP DE CHANCE
DIRECTED BY: WOODY ALLEN
STARRING: LOU DE LAAGE, NIELS SCHNEIDER, MELVIL POUPAUD
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
It’s been a rough few years for Woody Allen fans. After the commercial and Oscar successes of Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine in the early 2010s, Allen made a string of films that were not well received including some of his all-time worst works, Magic in the Moonlight, Wonder Wheel, and Rifkin’s Festival. Of course, the biggest issue for Allen was the re-surfacing of the sexual assault accusations by his daughter Dylan. Whether true or not, this put Allen in the barrel of cancelled entertainers. Now, at the age of 88, he is forced to get his films financed overseas. His latest, Coup de Chance (French for Stroke of Luck), premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last summer. MPI Media Group is releasing the film for streaming this week followed by a DVD release in May.
The problem with the lack of visibility for the film is that it is actually very good. Even Woody Allen haters should like this one. He’s not in it and it doesn’t feature any of the actors we’ve come to associate with him during his almost 60-year filmmaking career. All of the actors are French and there is no English dialogue anywhere in the film. It is though, a tightly developed narrative full of twists and surprises while also saying something about the role of luck in people’s lives.
Lou de Laage plays Fanny who lives and works in Paris. At the start of the film she meets an old high school friend, Alain (Niels Schneider), on the street. He professes his long-standing attraction to her but she is not initially interested since she is already married to rich guy Jean (Melvil Poupaud.) Of course, this IS a Woody Allen film and infidelity is one of the most common motifs in his numerous films such as Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, Husbands and Wives, Crimes and Misdemeanors, and Match Point. But while the film early on resembles some of these works, particularly Match Point, Allen turns the dial in some interesting and original directions. To say more, would be to reveal spoilers. The running themes of this narrative concern chance and coincidences, especially as they relate to love. Was it by chance that Alain ran into Fanny? Is finding love nothing but luck?
The arc of Fanny as a character is quite interesting. She moves in and out of the tunnel of passion, to use a new motif in Allen’s oeuvre: trains. She’s on a track that we think we can predict but in fact her mindset changes directions more than once in the film. With the skilled costume designs by Sonia Grande, Fanny transitions from wearing blues when she is with her somewhat cold and calculating husband Jean, to warmer colors with the less controlled, more passionate Alain. Later when tensions hit their apex, she sports more reds.
In addition to the impeccable production design, the film is shot with immeasurable flair by the great Vittorio Storaro (The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, Apocalypse Now, Reds) who has made even some Allen’s less successful films look stunning (Café Society, Wonder Wheel.) Like Fanny, the camera is almost in constant movement, following and traveling with her as she rides her emotional rollercoaster.
The jazzy music played throughout the film is at first very much in line with what we might expect from a Woody Allen soundtrack. Yet it has a very curious feel in that it is more playful and light rather than ominous as it could be given that the film features much more drama than comedy. The music is actually quite effective and takes the film in less brooding directions than where it takes us in Allen’s films like Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point. But then maybe that’s part of the message here. How can we be overwrought with heavy emotions if luck truly is in play? Maybe luck is something to be toyed with and embraced rather then taken too seriously since we can’t control it anyway.
This is definitely one of Allen’s best films in years. Watch it for some great writing, acting, visual design, and music. The master behind it all still knows how to make a satisfying and provocative film.
Coup de Chance begins streaming on digital platforms this week.
FILM: COUP DE CHANCE
DIRECTED BY: WOODY ALLEN
STARRING: LOU DE LAAGE, NIELS SCHNEIDER, MELVIL POUPAUD
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
It’s been a rough few years for Woody Allen fans. After the commercial and Oscar successes of Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine in the early 2010s, Allen made a string of films that were not well received including some of his all-time worst works, Magic in the Moonlight, Wonder Wheel, and Rifkin’s Festival. Of course, the biggest issue for Allen was the re-surfacing of the sexual assault accusations by his daughter Dylan. Whether true or not, this put Allen in the barrel of cancelled entertainers. Now, at the age of 88, he is forced to get his films financed overseas. His latest, Coup de Chance (French for Stroke of Luck), premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last summer. MPI Media Group is releasing the film for streaming this week followed by a DVD release in May.
The problem with the lack of visibility for the film is that it is actually very good. Even Woody Allen haters should like this one. He’s not in it and it doesn’t feature any of the actors we’ve come to associate with him during his almost 60-year filmmaking career. All of the actors are French and there is no English dialogue anywhere in the film. It is though, a tightly developed narrative full of twists and surprises while also saying something about the role of luck in people’s lives.
Lou de Laage plays Fanny who lives and works in Paris. At the start of the film she meets an old high school friend, Alain (Niels Schneider), on the street. He professes his long-standing attraction to her but she is not initially interested since she is already married to rich guy Jean (Melvil Poupaud.) Of course, this IS a Woody Allen film and infidelity is one of the most common motifs in his numerous films such as Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, Husbands and Wives, Crimes and Misdemeanors, and Match Point. But while the film early on resembles some of these works, particularly Match Point, Allen turns the dial in some interesting and original directions. To say more, would be to reveal spoilers. The running themes of this narrative concern chance and coincidences, especially as they relate to love. Was it by chance that Alain ran into Fanny? Is finding love nothing but luck?
The arc of Fanny as a character is quite interesting. She moves in and out of the tunnel of passion, to use a new motif in Allen’s oeuvre: trains. She’s on a track that we think we can predict but in fact her mindset changes directions more than once in the film. With the skilled costume designs by Sonia Grande, Fanny transitions from wearing blues when she is with her somewhat cold and calculating husband Jean, to warmer colors with the less controlled, more passionate Alain. Later when tensions hit their apex, she sports more reds.
In addition to the impeccable production design, the film is shot with immeasurable flair by the great Vittorio Storaro (The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, Apocalypse Now, Reds) who has made even some Allen’s less successful films look stunning (Café Society, Wonder Wheel.) Like Fanny, the camera is almost in constant movement, following and traveling with her as she rides her emotional rollercoaster.
The jazzy music played throughout the film is at first very much in line with what we might expect from a Woody Allen soundtrack. Yet it has a very curious feel in that it is more playful and light rather than ominous as it could be given that the film features much more drama than comedy. The music is actually quite effective and takes the film in less brooding directions than where it takes us in Allen’s films like Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point. But then maybe that’s part of the message here. How can we be overwrought with heavy emotions if luck truly is in play? Maybe luck is something to be toyed with and embraced rather then taken too seriously since we can’t control it anyway.
This is definitely one of Allen’s best films in years. Watch it for some great writing, acting, visual design, and music. The master behind it all still knows how to make a satisfying and provocative film.
Coup de Chance begins streaming on digital platforms this week.