Cherchez Hortense (2012)
Directed by Pascal Bonitzer

Film Review

Cherchez Hortense, Pascal Bonitzer's latest intellectually minded comedy, promises much but, as with his last three films (Petites coupures, Je pense à vous, Le Grand alibi), delivers far less than it should, although this doesn't prevent it from being a jolly little divertissement.  The former film theorist and critic on the esteemed Cahiers du cinéma has certainly found his niche, but the lack of variety in his work as a film director seems bizarre when you consider his screenwriting credits, which show far greater versatility and ambition.  In his latest film, Bonitzer stays well and truly in his comfort zone and expects us to be as interested as he evidently is in the tumultuous lives of left-leaning middle-class Parisians.  To its credit, the film does make an effort to engage with one of the most serious social problems in France today, that of how to deal with illegal immigrants, but it does so in such a slight, mealy mouthed way that you can't help wondering if Bonitzer is (in his darker moments) a closet supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy's controversial immigration policies.  If this film is intended to be a satire (presumably on the distance between the political elite and the real world which they are supposed to govern), it is a satire that is in desperate need of a new pair of dentures.

Whilst the film may be somewhat lacking in originality and depth, it does have its moments and overall it is probably Bonitzer's most entertaining film to date.  The film's main attraction is undoubtedly its cast, which brings together four of French cinema's finest actors: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Kristin Scott Thomas, Isabelle Carré and Claude Rich.  Disappointingly, Scott gets very little to do in the film and is saddled with the least interesting character, but her presence is very welcome and provides a tasty hors d'oeuvre for the main meal that Bonitzer serves up later.  After a misleading intro, Bacri takes centre stage and grabs our attention with one of his familiar grouch roles, a middle-aged man whose mid-life crisis is pumped up to cardiac-arresting proportions by the chaos that surrounds him.  Isabelle Carré plays Bacri's unlikely love interest, another unimaginative but highly effective piece of casting that gives the film the emotional core it desperately needs to prevent it from flying apart under the centrifugal force of its numerous plot digressions. 

As superb as Bacri and Carré are, both are pretty well eclipsed by Claude Rich, that elder statesman of French comedy who is so convincing in his role that you'd almost swear he'd spent the last three decades moonlighting as a high-ranking government official.  The film's best scenes are those involving Rich and Bacri, improbably cast as father and son - the distance between the characters becomes evident when they realise how little each knows about the other.  In one memorable scene, Rich flirts with a young waiter in a Japanese restaurant, through which it naturally emerges that he has a habit of sleeping with men, something which (he insists) does not make him a homosexual.  You don't have to be French to see the joke: hypocrisy is, after all, the most visible failing of the political class everywhere these days, not just in France.

Whilst the film flounders about pretty aimlessly before it reaches its main narrative thrust, it all comes together in its last third and the comedy is enhanced by some thoughtful observations on both France's legislative process (which seems horribly divorced from reality) and the plight of illegal immigrants (who are treated as so much unwanted waste rather than human beings).  Damien's motive for intervening in what looks chillingly like a modern-day version of the Jewish round-up of 1942 is perhaps questionable (given that he has fallen in love with Aurore), but there are a few moments of genuine poignancy, which can hardly fail to stir our own consciences and cause us to question whether any state has the moral right to treat human beings so abominably (even if they have a legal right to do so).  Torn between being a conventional romantic comedy and a piece of social commentary, Cherchez Hortense doesn't have the focus and muscle it needs to excel in either department.  Nonetheless, Bonitzer's script positively crackles with its author's customary dry humour and with such a distinguished cast to do it justice who could ask for more?

Film Synopsis

Damien, an expert in Chinese civilisation, is married to Iva, a theatre director.  The passion has long since gone out of the couple's marriage and their relationship has been in a rut for many years.  Iva has started seeing another man and the couple's teenage son has begun to outstay his welcome.  In a last ditch attempt to hold his family together, Damien accepts a challenge from his wife - to put pressure on his father, a government official, to intervene and prevent an illegal Serbian immigrant, Zorica, from being deported back to her own country.  As luck would have it, Damien begins to fall in love with a young woman named Aurore, who turns out to be the very person he is trying to help...