Les Infortunes de la beauté (1999)
Directed by John Lvoff

Film Review

The inconsequential nature of this film and its wishy-washy plot makes it inordinately difficult to take seriously, although it is oddly entertaining in places.   Some laughably pretentious dialogue and needlessly arty camera work undermine the film's better points, which include a number of genuinely funny comic situations.  The film's star, the ever lovely Arielle Dombasle, is captivating, but, hampered by a lacklustre script, she shines far less brightly than in the films of Eric Rohmer, to which this film is, in some ways, a very pale approximation.

Film Synopsis

Daphné isn't confident that her amazing good looks and scintillating personality are enough to convince the man she loves, Vincent, that he should give up his compulsive philandering and devote himself entirely to her.  So she gets together with her friend Céline and hatches a cunning plot that cannot fail to allow her to tie the connubial knot around the neck of the man she has set her heart on.  The plan is to scour the streets of Paris in search of the most perfect woman.  Having found this marvel of female pulchritude, Daphné will then persuade her to pose naked for an artist, the intention being to convince Vincent that Daphné has everything he could possibly want in a woman.  Unfortunately, beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder and it isn't long before the devious scheme begins to go slightly awry...