Review for Life of Riley

Stage play adaptations to film don’t always work but ‘Life of Riley’ (Aimer, boire et chanter) is an excellent example of one that really does. There’s a great line towards the end of the film when one of the protagonists is discussing the play that some of the film’s characters have just performed, to which her partner replies ‘I prefer films’. Well, here you get the very best of both.


 This was Alain Resnais’ (Last Year at Marienbad, Hiroshima mon amour) final film before his death in 2014 and, in common with those two films is highly stylised and almost hyper-real in its approach. The settings are all very theatrical with an imaginative use of lighting and set design, most notably using vertically hung vinyl flooring as back-drops through which the characters can enter and leave scenes. Whilst that may sound intrusive, the net result is just the opposite. The focus is all on the (excellent) performances in this dialogue rich Alan Ayckbourn play adaption. The trailer for the UK conema release below gives a good flavour of the look of the film and its approach. Quite brilliant and it works superbly.


When general practitioner Dr. Colin inadvertently tells his wife Kathryn that the days of his patient George Riley should be numbered, he doesn’t know that George was Kathryn’s first love. Both spouses, who are rehearsing a play with their local amateur theatre company, convince George to join them. It allows George, among other things, to play strong love scenes with Tamara, who is married to Jack, his best friend, a rich businessman and unfaithful husband. A tearful Jack tries to persuade Monica, George’s wife who left him to be with Simeon the farmer, to go back to her husband in order to support him during his last months. George has a strange seductive power over Monica, Tamara and Kathryn, which highly upsets those men sharing their lives with the three women.


 The full force of the emotional turmoil they experienced in their youth and their long-buried dreams are rekindled. Much to the chagrin of their respectable, middle-class husbands, the women begin to argue about which of them should be allowed to accompany George on a final journey to Tenerife.

 
Although George is the centre-piece for the whole play, we actually never see him. He exists only as the subject of other’s comments and observations, a technique that is also used for other ‘off-stage’ imaginations – like the erection of a giant marquee for Jack’s daughter’s 16th birthday.

 
I must admit that, although I have seen both of Resnais’ most critically acclaimed films ( Hiroshima Mon Amour, 1959 and Last Year at Marienbad, 1961) , I hadn’t been aware of his more recent work. Indeed, I was actually surprised that he was still active at all as both these classic films had long passed their 50th anniversaries and had been considered a part of the French New Wave from that time.


I hadn’t been aware, for example, of his previous two Ayckbourn adaptions, After Smoking/No Smoking (1993) and Private Fears in Public Places (2006), making this the third adaptation of a work by the British playwright. It was, sadly, his last film and it’s an absolute corker.


 Not only does it look great (a bit like Coppola’s much maligned but fabulous looking ‘One from the Heart’) but the acting is fantastic; like a Woody Allen film with naturalistic dialogue and action and, even when it gets theatrical in a physical way, it never steps out of the play. Although it is a serious piece, it’s sprinkled with wonderfully observed humour. One lovely example is the recurring gag of one of the male protagonists frequently taking his frustrations out by kicking a tree-trunk until we eventually see him with his foot in plaster.


 The Blu-Ray image, even on the check disc, looks excellent with a picture that really zings with colour and detail and all dialogue is clear and crisp throughout.

 
Another surprise was that the excellent score was penned and recorded by none other than Mark Snow, perhaps best known for his US TV work, particularly on the X-Files. Despite this being as unlikely a pairing as Resnais and Ayckbourn, it’s totally sympathetic.


 This is simply a great film of a great play. It’s visual design is superb, the cast superb and the results really impressive. It’s also a lot of fun to watch – so don’t be put off by the sub-titles. Well worth picking up.