La belle époque

La Belle Époque poses the interesting question of which moment of your life you'd want to relive (if any). Victor Drumond (Daniel Auteuil), an aging cartoonist with a failing marriage with his wife Marianne (the elegant Fanny Ardant), definitely has one.. one where he first met the love of his life (Marianne, of course!). When Victor gets chucked out of their apartment one night by Marianne, he decides to make use of the voucher offered by his son to "return to his glorious '70s". This is made possible by Antoine (a childhood friend of his son's), who along with a bunch of sophisticated actors and authentic aesthetics (akin to elaborately done film sets), offers a service to let people relive their happiest moment(s).

Antoine (Canet) is going through a relationship struggle with Margot (a tough-to-take-eyes-off Doria Tillier), one of his actresses. When Margot is cast to play the role of Marianne in Victor's moment re-enactment (set in a cafe in Lyon, 1974), things slowly spiral out of control. Victor can't help but fall in love with this beautiful, trailblazing lady (who improvises her lines and situations) for real. In her, he sees traits of his wife, but with unique texturing of her own. As days progress, Victor finds that he's able to draw (i.e. create art) again.

Nicolas Bedos strongly projects how art is one of the few things that can stand the test of time - sometimes, even love tends to take a backseat. He also leaves a heartwarming message (for everyone who's been in love at some point) in the form of the climax scene. It's a nostalgia-filled ride too, into an imagined version of the 70s. Victor casually comments on the times when people used to smoke like they owned chimney lungs and notice other people passing by instead of staring into phone screens (like we do now!).

Plenty of sharp, cleverly written humor is also present for discerning viewers. Bedos can feel proud of the fact that he didn't overly sentimentalize the proceedings or overuse his unique rom-com concept. The writing here for each of the lead characters is solid and very Kaufman-esque in its world-building. I, for one, would love to visit Utopia as many times as possible. Also, I feel uber tempted to check out Doria Tillier's other works ASAP!