My Wife Is an Actress (2001)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Pretty Good

How sad is this?

For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

"My Wife is an Actress" shocked me before I went to the theater: my husband wanted to see it! That hasn't happened with a chick flick since "Legally Blonde." I thought there was a Pretty Woman involved, but he protested, "What, you don't think I read reviews?" I plead the fifth on that one. "Ma femme est une actress "is, probably coincidentally, a comic take on a British furor over last year's "Intimacy," where a husband/journalist spoke out on not being jealous, well, not really jealous, when his wife/actress films explicit sex scenes in a serious movie. Here, writer/director/star Yvan Attal (as "Yvan," an adorable sports reporter, who manages to be a guy's guy without being obnoxiously macho about it) plays out the same situation with his real-life wife Charlotte Gainsbourg (as "Charlotte", with irresistible charm and equanimity).While the film isn't just from Yvan's point of view, we certainly do see the difficulties of living with a Famous Person. He's grounded in real life by his comic relief Jewish sister and gentile brother-in-law whose arguing over their impending child gets annoying after awhile and starts raising some stereotype hackles by the end, though is still amusing. Even as Yvan descends into jealousy as he tries to delve into the psyche of actors, the comic tone is deftly kept up, especially as Charlotte deals with both him and her lecherously attractive co-star, the ever smooth Terence Stamp (with a particularly funny take on filming nude love scenes amidst a large crew). So here's another chick flick from a guy's viewpoint that can work. (originally written 8/11/2002)

Now the description of this movie immediately got me interested: real-life husband and wife, Yvan & Charlotte, play a husband and wife named Yvan & Charlotte! Charlotte is an actress (as in real-life), and Yvan is jealous about the scenes between her and her leading men. Now isn't that something that immediately makes you think you're voyeuring into some real-life predicaments? Well, it didn't work. There was no chemistry between Charlotte and Terrance Stamp (John), the supposed object of jealousy for Yvan. You just didn't buy the idea that Yvan could ever be jealous of John.There was an interesting sub-story involving Yvan's sister who is a Jew married to a Christian. The story involves circumcision of a baby boy that will be born to them soon. I wish they spent more time on this substory rather than the main story. The substory was so much more interesting.

CAUTION: SPOILERS! It ain't paranoia if it's really happening.In "My Wife Is an Actress" beleaguered French sportswriter Yvan (played by Yvan Attal, who also wrote and directed)is overcome by jealous worries that his beautiful movie star/wife Charlotte (played by Attal's real-life wife, Charlotte Gainsbourg) might be unfaithful. Yvan fears that Charlotte, who's left their Paris home to film a movie in London, might succumb to the advances of her sexy and disreputable leading man. Yvan's fears, stoked by, among other things, a conversation with a cloddish acquaintance, drive the action in this romantic comedy, which isn't always that comedic.(SPOILER) Several reviewers have labeled Yvan's worries as paranoid. But it ain't paranoia if it's really happening. Turns out Yvan was right to worry. Charlotte falls rather readily for her co-star (Terence Stamp), whose moves are subtle and low-pressure. She has an excuse--Yvan planted the thought in her head with his ranting on the subject and his frequent unannounced trips to London to check up on her. Of course she's obligated to follow her little crush through all the way and sleep with the guy, all the while reassuring her husband that she is not.Bear in mind that her fling is with a pasty, paunchy hack twice her age, as played delightfully by Stamp. You've got to figure a Russell Crowe-like young stud would have her on her back in about 10 seconds.Following her assignation, Charlotte suffers apparent pangs of guilt and boards the Chunnel train for Paris and Yvan. After some innocent misunderstanding they get back together and she continues to tell Yvan that she has not slept with her co-star. Yvan knows she's lying: "You know something? You're a great actress," he says.This movie is watchable and enjoyable, thanks to the attractiveness of its stars and Stamp's old-pro performance. But it is not particularly likeable, as romantic comedies are supposed to be. Ultimately it is a story about a marriage that is doomed to failure: he's obsessively jealous and she's unfaithful and a liar. Not a good combination. Worse, (SPOILER) the vehicle Charlotte and Yvan choose to cement their relationship--having a baby--is almost guaranteed to hurt, not help, a shaky marriage.Charlotte is the film's most interesting character. She is not particularly likeable and is made palatable only by the immense appeal of the actress, Ms. Gainsbourg. In this the film is similar to another French movie about adultery, "Un Pointe Entre Deux Rives," or "The Bridge," in which the grace and beauty of the Audrey Hepburn-like Carole Bouquet make a rather unlikeable character somewhat more sympathetic than she should be.Much has been made of the fact that the characters' names are the same as Attal's and Gainsbourg's real-lfe names. Is "My Wife Is an Actress" autobiographical? I hope not, for both their sakes.

If anyone ever wonder why is the French film industry in the terrible state is is, one could suggest a look at this picture to realize why.The director is Jewish. He obviously has an agenda to throw it in our face at every given moment. He starts in the opening scene when Charlotte and Yvan are having dinner with his sister and brother-in-law and immediately we get to know this poor goy is in deep trouble, and so are we.I mean, who cares what religion any one of these characters practice? The film loses all sense of direction right away. Only in France can trash like this could be made under the pretense that something artistic is being shown. The story has potential but it goes into a coma and never recuperates. A waste of talent to have Terence Stamp do nothing, as well as Charlotte Gainsbourg. Let's hope no one will finance this genius in his next venture and spare us having to sit through another "masterpiece" like this in the future.My advice to M. Attal would be that he goes to Israel and study film direction under a great director, Dover Kosashvili, who makes Jewish stories so subtly that they are universal.