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The Netflix trailer and description promised a cool modern spy thriller with throwbacks to 60s films of the genre with jazz on the soundtrack and a dapper Bill Nighy in the lead role. Plus it is written and directed by David Hare, so surely it'll be great, except it... isn't. It may be the only serious film I've seen in which the lead actor utilises fewer facial expressions than Roger Moore (who isn't in it, sadly). Possibly worse, there are several other great British actors in this film but they are mostly terrible - it's all so actorly - none of them seem interested in playing the character or "performing" for the viewer, instead just acting at each other (and at David Hare, no doubt). Then again, almost all the characters are upper middle class Oxbridge types with barns attached to their houses and few interests outside the civil service beyond a bit of spurious art collecting, so there isn't a lot of character to get into, I suppose. The plot is OK in a somnambulent, Graham Greene with a sense of humour bypass writing a short story on his day off to pay for a plane ticket to Frankfurt sort of way, revolving around the leaking of a classified report implicating the prime minister (Ralph Fiennes with not a lot to say). The denouement builds towards the principled Nighy facing the dilemma of jail or giving up an exemplary career, but because he looks as if he's been both botoxed and tranquillised, and his biggest action sequence involves him breaking into a jog around Cambridge while carrying a Waitrose bag, it's difficult to care what he chooses. The film is saved only by Rachel Weisz smoking rollups moodily in a mansion flat and a few atmospheric shots of London at night. I suppose I miss Hare's point, really, that modern British skullduggery bears no relation in real life to frenetic Mission Impossible-style shenanigans but instead is acted out (acted being the key word) entirely in dull offices among laconic, cynical people in even duller suits who all went to the same public school, so what should I have expected, really. 5/10 would recommend only if you're unable to watch exciting films due to a nervous disposition or similar.

This title popped up in my Amazon Prime and looked like something light and fun. My experience of recent French films has been mixed, with many being overly erotic and taking themselves a bit seriously. This film though was a delight from start to finish. The main character Anais, young and beautiful, absent-minded and clumsy and quintessentially French, dashes around everywhere in a series of gorgeous summer frocks. She is having a relationship with a handsome man her own age but it's already over practically within the first scene. In the very next scene Anais is enrapturing a married man twice her age, although he goes on to leave her frustrated. With a summer job at a symposium (she is a student) in the lavish French countryside, she encounters Emilie, a similarly beautiful 50-something married academic, and quite unexpectedly falls passionately in love with this older woman. I won't spoil it from there, but suffice to say I laughed and cried. I had to rewind and watch the last 15 minutes again as it was so beautifully done. I lamented "overly erotic" films earlier in this review and this title was rated 18+ by Prime but it is perfectly pitched, containing one of the most sensual, tasteful and romantic love scenes I think I've ever watched, without being over the top. I'll be buying the DVD of this film as I can imagine wanting to watch it over a bottle of French red many times in the future. This film is everything anyone would ever want from a modern French romance, perhaps because the story is everything anyone would ever want from love itself.

I found this title on a streaming service and, don't judge me, but I have to admit I was attracted initially by the title and low IMDb rating which promised something a bit cheap and steamy. When I saw however that it starred Katherine Hahn and was written and directed by Jill Soloway I realised it must actually be a pretty good film, and any steam would be a bonus. Soloway was one of the people behind the legendary Six Feet Under as well as Transparent (which incidentally I found patchier but still largely excellent) and this film won't disappoint viewers who loved the realistic dialogue and natural acting of those series. Familiar Soloway territory is explored, namely middle-class people wrangling with issues of sexuality, identity and class in Los Angeles. Hahn plays (superbly, with highly-strung aplomb) Rachel, a married woman having a mid-life crisis. Her nerdy husband buys her a lap dance at a club, which seems to ignite something in her, and later, while buying coffee downtown, she runs into the dancer, McKenna, played by a young and sexy Juno Temple. Rachel befriends McKenna, perhaps thinking some of her laid-back sexiness will rub off on her, and when McKenna gets thrown out of her home, Rachel invites her to stay temporarily in the family home. It turns out McKenna isn't exactly just a dancer and Rachel decides to spice up her non-existent sex life by accompanying her on a home visit to one of McKenna's regular clients. At this point however Rachel's true character comes to the fore as she decides she no longer wants anything to do with McKenna, who in turn also reverts to type during a boys' evening with Rachel's husband and his pals. Ultimately Rachel turns out to be a pretty awful, spoilt middle-class person who doesn't know what she wants and doesn't have a great deal of respect for the working class, so that by the end I was annoyed, not by the film but by her character (though clearly that was the intention). The film is definitely worth more than its current 5.2 IMDb rating (I've seen far more pretentious and tedious films get inexplicably higher scores on here) and also definitely worth investigating - and there is indeed some steam too, if that's what you're looking for.