Ni une ni deux (2019)
Directed by Anne Giafferi

Film Review

Ni une ni deux is the third feature for cinema to be directed by Anne Giafferi, who first distinguished herself on the popular French television series Fais pas ci, fais pas ça.  She made her cinema debut in 2010 with Qui a envie d'être aimé?, a moving and gently ironic portrait of a middle-aged man discovering God, to the consternation of his entourage.    After this came Ange et Gabrielle (2015), an amiable but pretty insubstantial sentimental comedy.

Giafferi's third film starts with a decent premise, which is to show how despicably cruel the movie making business can be towards ageing actresses, but it fails to develop this into anything more than the flimsiest of comedies.  Its only real selling point is Mathilde Seigner's presence in a double role, which allows this highly talented actress to juggle two contrasting personalities, which she does with immense skill.  In this she is capably supported by François-Xavier Demaison, Arié Elmaleh and Marie-Anne Chazel.

Despite its abundance of acting talent, Ni une ni deux has difficulty holding our attention, beset as it is with a prosaic storyline, some horribly clichéd characterisation and a painful dearth of effective comedy.  There are one or two moments of genuine poignancy, but these tend to be overplayed and scarcely ring true.  Were it not for Mathilde Seigner's spirited performance, the film would scarcely be worth watching - a disappointing result for a director who to date has delivered some consistently good work.

Film Synopsis

Julie is a successful actress in her early fifties who is becoming obsessively anxious that her ageing appearance is starting to be a career handicap.  She resorts to plastic surgery, but when this goes disastrously wrong she decides to persuade a woman who is her exact double to stand in for her on her next film.  Little does she know that the woman in question, Laurent, is in truth her long-lost sister, who was separated from her at birth...