THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606140061
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E17 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 51 lines
PHILANDERING husbands, beware! ``French Twist'' is here and your wives might go see it.
Having lived through ``Fatal Attraction,'' there is no need for you to become complacent about your marriage. The French, in their own sassy, casual way, are serving notice, comically, that wives just may be fed up.
As with ``La Cage aux Folles,'' this is a gender bender that some (particularly the studio, trying to sell tickets) are calling ``outrageous.'' Actually, it's an old plot. Shakespeare used sexual confusion often, from ``Twelfth Night'' to ``Much Ado About Nothing'' and beyond. Long before Bill even took up his quill, the Greeks staged a comedy about women going on strike until their menfolk gave up the battlefield and came home. Still, ``French Twist'' will make the squeamish uncomfortable, even at the late date of 1996.
To put it bluntly, getting this plot straight is not easy.
Victoria Abril, the delightfully saucy Spanish actress who was in many of the Pedro Almodovar comedies (including the local hit ``Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down''), plays a dutiful wife who stays at home, cares for the two children and has dinner waiting while her handsome husband is out running his business. The husband, played by French comedian Alain Chabat, has been dealing with more monkey business than with his office - and bragging about it to his buddies.
A short-cropped, tough-but-sweet woman, played by the film's director and writer, Josiane Balasko, arrives to fix the plumbing - and stays. The irate husband gets the word that he's been replaced by the visiting woman.
The battle of the sexes takes on a farcical turn that is old-hat with a supposedly ``new'' twist. The funniest thing in the movie is the husband's befuddled reaction to his new rival.
``French Twist'' is obviously aimed at mass comedy audiences rather than at any serious commentary. It is routine farce but refreshingly sweet in a current film world that seldom even tries farce. ILLUSTRATION: MIRAMAX FILMS
From left, Josiane Balasko, Victoria Abril and Alain Chabat star in
``French Twist.''
MOVIE REVIEW
``French Twist''
Cast: Victoria Abril, Josiane Balasko, Alain Chabat
Director and Writer: Josiane Balasko
MPAA rating: R (nudity, sexual situations)
Mal's rating: **1/2
Location: Naro in Norfolk by CNB