Review of Ma Femme Est Une Atrice (aka My Wife Is An Actress)

Introduction

Our hero is the husband of the famous actress Charlotte. He feels he is secure in his relationship until a casual acquaintance asks him what it is like watching his wife make love to other men on screen. He starts to wonder if there is a difference between acting and real life. When his wife goes to London to star in a film with the famous John, Yvan is concerned she will not be able to resist him. Meanwhile in an attempt to understand the dark art of acting he takes some classes himself.

This film was directed by and stars Yvan Attal with his real life wife Charlotte Gainsbourg playing his screen wife. Charlotte Gainsbourg is also famous for being the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin who notoriously produced the record of J`taime- a hard act to follow! The London cast also includes Keith Allen.

Video

Mostly made on locations around Paris this film does feature a little of London too. All the locations are fairly low key and the Eiffel Tower only features as a model in a snowglobe. The Eurostar does feature quite heavily and hopefully they got on it for free.

The film is presented in Widescreen. All the content is on one disc and I did notice the layer jump. The film only came out last year and as such is a good transfer onto an anamorphic disc.

Audio

Produce in the standard Dolby 2.0. The dialogue is clear enough but I needed the subtitles as my schoolgirl French is not up to much. The subtitles are ok but plainly geared to the American market. Someone is referred to as a `doufus` at one point -not a word ever heard outside the States.

There is a subtle jazz soundtrack improvised by Brad Mehldau plus some other input from The Clash (London Calling) and other artists.

Features

The Director`s commentary is in French but subtitled in English, which of course you soon get used to. A little more detail than in the accompanying Featurette
And as Yvan also wrote the piece he has a lot to say.

Making of Documentary- interview with the director and a look at the jazz used on the soundtrack. Quite interesting and a reasonable length. Interesting because he was lead actor and director/writer-so I guess if it was Ok for him to change things without upsetting anyone.

Deleted scenes-available to show how long the film could have been. Most notable the interminable taxi drive -where Yvan doesn`t say a lot. I can`t believe I sat through it but I just wanted to check I wasn`t missing anything.

Conclusion

A not totally unlikeable film it forms a reasonable night`s entertainment when the only choice is more reality shows on TV. Coincidentally I saw the start of `Mr and Mrs` a reality video diary about a married couple whose relationship changes when a third person enters the equation. On TV of course the third person was a baby but in this film the husband has to deal with several people entering the relationship. His wife beds a succession of lovers who are of course only actors and she is only making films, not love When his jealousy is aroused, he becomes overly concerned about the next film his wife will be making with a notorious womanising English actor.

`My Wife is an Actress` has a couple of mildly amusing scenes but there are also disappointments particularly in the caricature of John (Terence Stamp). It is obsessively focused on how Yvan feels and he does rather go on. I have the feeling it thinks it is being deeper than it is and I hope the ending is meant to be ironic.

There are a couple of laugh-out-loud moments and being a European film one of them involves nudity and one of them mime. Don`t expect to get an eye-full of Charlotte either as she remains in every sense under cover-elusive and an illusion. The film basically plays with a notion of fidelity in a fairly unhealthy way.
Is it me, or is potential adultery really the stuff of comedy?
On the plus side the supporting actors playing Yvan`s sister and brother-in-law are entertaining as they bicker about whether their baby will be Jewish or not. The acting class does produce Yvan`s `birth of a flower`-worth a titter.

The DVD package is well thought out, a director`s commentary and Featurette, explaining a little something about the film`s background. It does offer value for money as many of the recent releases do but I think for this film it`s too much detail thanks.