[Film Review] C’est La Vie! (2017) 7.4/10

Pivoting around a wedding day at a 17th century chateau, C’EST LA VIE! is a contemporary French comedy from the filmmaker-duo Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, the talents behind such global hits like THE INTOUCHABLES (2011) and SAMBA (2014), so the credentials are high.

In the center of this particularly hectic day is the seasoned wedding planner/caterer Max Angély (Bacri), who is experiencing a common middle-age crisis, both his marriage and his affair with Josiane (Clément), one of his assistants, hit a hiatus; on the professional side, it destines to be a long day for anyone involved, as hiccups crop up incessantly among his staff, the magisterial demand of the bridegroom Pierre (Lavernhe), and technical problems like the overloaded electricity and an unpremeditated food poison situation.

For what it is worth, Nakache and Toledano strenuously and cunningly condenses the current society into this microcosmic activity, where each character is imbued with distinct personality to cover the whole scope of human foibles, the hotheaded, potty-mouthed chief assistant Adèle (Haidara), is always at loggerheads with the pompous DJ James (Lellouche), a substitute who cannot get the approval of the payer; waiter Julien (Macaigne), also Max’s brother-in-law and a compulsory grammar corrector (he was a teacher before), finds out the bride Héléna (Chemla) is an old acquaintance he carries a torch for, to save face, he pretends to be one of the wedding guests, but his 17th costume, in which every waiter is requested to be attired, is a dead giveaway; also among the outfit is the eccentric wedding photographer Guy (Rouve), who roundly loathes the ubiquity of cellphone shutterbugs, and his high school apprentice Bastien (Naccache), eventually what plays out is that the former has much to learn from the technology-savvy latter.

Racial inclusivity is well homogenized into the plot as well, among Max’s staff, several of them are illegally employed (an opportunity let Max blow off steam on the government’s unsupportive policy towards boutique business), most of them are Pakistani immigrants, and the script shows up their hidden talents as a surprising tonic to invigorate the feeling of nadir into a raga-infused, candle-lit celebration with utter delight.

While the typical Gallic irony is registered with both persuasion and funny bone (Pierre’s airborne stunt is both romantic and sheer ridiculous), DP David Chizallet’s freewheeling camera that doggedly follows each character in close range is another wow factor, in conjunction with the ensemble’s engaging, witty and faux-spontaneous reactions, the whole package is almost irresistible, if Nakache and Toledano could have shucked off most of the corny tropes (opposites attract is such a bromide, for starters).

Fielding interminable hitches with a melange of wan resignation and suppressed irritation, Bacri is a sterling performer in inhabiting Max’s plight when he is driven on the orbit towards a breakdown by all the heterogeneous accidents and blunders, but never loses his presence of mind even when the plot suggests so, and among its vast supporting players, surprisingly it is Lavernhe who stands out for so competently transubstantiates obnoxiousness into something is equally droll and disarming, at the end of the day, even the sorry sentiment we feel for the bride is miraculously allayed. On that account, of all the Francophone moviemakers, if gauged by the skill and felicity of producing seriocomic crowdpleaser with a perfect balance of bonhomie and sobriety, the Nakache-Toledano duo is a shoo-in par excellence.

referential entries: Nakache and Toledano’s THE INTOUCHABLES (2011, 7.7/10); Ruben Alves’s THE GILDED CAGE (2013, 6.8/10)