User Reviews

Caprice is, alas, only the fourth film written and directed by plus starring Emmanuel Mourcet, which means I'm doing everything I can to locate his other five full-length features (he has also made two shorts). Mourcet specializes in the quirky, offbeat and perhaps best described as semi-romcoms but in every case - or in the four titles I have seen - he throws in a large helping of enjoyment. Clearly he has not forgotten that cinema was created to fill people with a sense of awe, wonderment and give them a heady mixture of laughter and tears so that just one frame of a Mourcet film is worth the entire catalogue of precious critics darlings like Godard, Ken Loach and their ilk. Caprice is no less delightful than his previous films and I await its release on DVD impatiently.

_Caprice_ is by far the best film by French acidic romantic comedy specialist Emmanuel Mouret I have seen. Of his previous films, I barely remember a thing of _Please, Please Me_, _Shall We Kiss_, and _Venus and Fleur_. _Another Life_ is almost universally hated; while the cynical _Lady J_ has a touch of redemptive sincerity, it comes too little, too late. By comparison, _Caprice_ is almost a tragedy -- at least for its eponymous character (Anais Demoustier). It also boasts multifaceted rumination on the nature of love, and surprising depth.

Director Mouret himself plays Clement, a theater enthusiast who adores famed actress Alicia (Virginie Efira). He is also fated to sitting next to Caprice during Alicia's stage performances, and you'd think they are meant to be together. Instead, and despite being mismatched -- Alicia is a star, mobbed by admirers every night, he is an uncharismatic school-teacher -- he moves in with his idol. One night his colleague and possibly only friend Thomas drags him into a foursome night's out, who else but Caprice as the fourth wheel. She briefly seduces Clement but the relationship fades out. A crestfallen Alicia, cheated on again, ponders a relation with Thomas. Given what happens to Caprice at the end, it is hard to see how this film qualifies as romantic, a comedy, or even as bittersweet.

Mouret plays his usual slumped-over shamble who is somehow a magnet for glamorous ladies. Efira has never been more alluring, but her scenes on stage seem to suggest her character's fame exceeds her dramatic range; she is no Jessica Chastain or Sandra Huller. In contrast, it turns out Caprice is an aspiring actress, and the non-professional play she puts on with friends (a science fiction about, what else, the nature of love) is quite a revelation. Her keen intelligence and surprising depth are revealed when she spices up Clement's debut stage play, starring Alicia. By that time Caprice is long gone; Clement never summons up the courage to leave Alicia for her. Of the three leads Demoustier has the most mysterious role. She is the innocent theater companion, the veteran seductress, the jealous stalker, the idealistic admirer obviously head-over-heals in love with Clement even if she denies it. I guess this must be true love. Through it all the young Demoustier gives an deft and electric performance. Meanwhile Clement openly questions whether he is more taken with Alicia the actress than the person, while his partner reveals she picks him because of a fortune teller's words. At one point she admits she only thinks she loves him ... they both seem to live inside their head, playacting their way through relationships.

Mouret is often described as a Rohmer-lite. The four-side relationship might be his _Boyfriends and Girlfriends_, without the satisfying resolution. Clement might be the prim Jean-Louie Trintignant in _My Night at Maud_ without the intellectual underpinning; perhaps he is a pale version, Bernard Verley's straying bourgeoisie in _Love in the Afternoon_? Efira is certainly as glamorous as Francoise Fabian's Maud, or Arille Dombasle's Marion in _Pauline at the Beach_. Is Demoustier the demur Blanche in _Boyfriends_, or Haydee Politoff's reckless ingenue in _La Collectionnuese_? I think of her mostly as the sirens disposed of by Rohmer's protagonists, whose heartbreak we seldom get to see ... To its great credit, _Caprice_ has truly earned these Rohmeresque comparisons.