Reviewed by Doug Cooper
Stars Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Philippe Martz, Clement Morel, Bruno Romy, Ophélie Anfry, Odile de Coligny, Claire Dubien, Louis Lecouvreur, Shirley Verin
Written by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon & Bruno Romy
Certification UK PG | France U
Runtime 77 minutes
Directed by Abel, Gordon & Romy
Mercifully short at 77 minutes - though it feels much longer - totally unfunny, vastly irritating and a pain to sit through - do you need a further recommendation to see this Tati-esque comic display of gurning faces and over-ripe mugging? The performers are committed and their silent antics - there's hardly any dialogue - might tickle your funny bone if you're in a certain frame of mind but on the whole one should beware.
Abel and Gordon play school teachers who have a passion for the rhumba. They enter many dance competitions and win many prizes. One night, however. they are involved in a major car accident. She is injured, he loses his memory. He develops a strange friendship with the guy who caused the accident, a suicidal foodstall owner who habitates a beach. The narrative is unimportant, however. It is mainly a series of vignettes displaying the physical skills and burlesque talents of the actors - and very capable they are too, but after 20 minutes or so this kind of heightened performance technique wears very thin. It's an arch, experimental work that fails to charm.