Après vous... (2003)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Pierre Salvadori

Writers:

Danièle Dubroux (idea)
Benoît Graffin (writer)

Release Date:

17 December 2003 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A very tasty comedy with a little French twist.

Plot:

Antoine (Auteuil) saves Louis (Garcia) from hanging himself, though in his attempt to get Louis back on his feet, Antoine gets caught in a romantic triangle.

Plot Keywords:

Clerk | Chinese Restaurant | Love Triangle | Wine Drinking | Attempted Suicide

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Daniel Auteuil	...	Antoine Letoux
José Garcia	...	Louis
Sandrine Kiberlain	...	Blanche Grimaldi
Marilyne Canto	...	Christine
Michèle Moretti	...	Martine
Garance Clavel	...	Karine
Fabio Zenoni	...	André
Jocelyne Desverchère	...	Sandrine the Florist
Didier Menin	...	Man at Thai Restaurant
Jean-Claude Lecas	...	Cook
Blandine Pélissier	...	Nurse
Jean-Charles Dumay	...	Serge the Sommelier
Ange Ruzé	...	Young Waiter
Élise Otzenberger	...	Hairdresser
Jean-Luc Abel	...	The Inspector

Also Known As:

After You (International: English title) (USA)
Fleur de peau (France) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

France:110 min | USA:110 min | Argentina:110 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:15 | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-7 | Argentina:Atp | USA:R

Company:

Les Films Pelléas

Quotes:

Blanche: I'm not an easy girl... but I'm very reconciliating.

Soundtrack:

La Ruse des bouteilles

Gentle, Poignant Screwball Romantic Comedy

"Après vous..." is a gentle, screwball cross between "Cyrano" and "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," or, more accurately probably, its French progenitor "Boudu sauvé des eaux."

Daniel Auteuil very expressively plays a much put upon Good Samaritan, whose life and identity get more and more entangled with the object of his personal philanthropy. While the employment and romantic lengths that he goes to in helping his hapless beneficiary, who shares some foibles with TV's Monk, stretch believability, he is very amusing and certainly the viewer gets as caught up as he is in the ensuing complications, even if they do seem a bit endless.

One of its charms is that all the characters have saving graces. Unlike similar American movies, characters who are in the way of the inevitable are not shrill and the screenplay, co-written by director Pierre Salvadori, is not mean or condescending to them, as there is equal poignancy and laughter.

There may be additional jokes about French restaurants and cuisine that lose something in the U.S. as this is almost as much a restaurant movie as "Dinner Rush" or "Big Night." The English subtitles, when they are not white on white, have poor grammar and spelling, including inconsistency of a character's name.

The repeating amusing sounding pop tunes on the soundtrack seem to have some significance, but the lyrics are not translated.