Cast: Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Virginie Ledoyen, Yvan Attal, Grégori Derangère, Peter Coyote
Director: Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Producers: Laurent Pétin, Michèle Pétin
Screenplay: Gilles Marchand, Patrick Modiano, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Julien Rappeneau, Jérôme Tonnerre
Cinematography: Thierry Arbogast
Music: Gabriel Yared
U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
In French with subtitles
Bon Voyage, the latest cinematic effort from veteran French director Jean-Paul Rappeneau (Cyrano De Bergerac, The Horseman on the Roof), is in many ways a throwback - an old-fashioned historical feature with impeccable period details and a good heaping of melodrama. Unlike many films of this sort, Bon Voyage avoids the pitfall of becoming overly sentimental, preferring instead to adopt a playful, almost comedic tone. Unfortunately, a little too much pointless running around coupled with the underdevelopment of several key characters results in a movie that's never more than mildly diverting.
The year is 1940, and France is about to fall to Germany. The government is packing up to move from Paris to Bordeaux. It's against this tableau that Rappeneau's story unspools. Viviane (Isabelle Adjani) is a popular actress whose films are loved by all. The infatuation for her performances carries over to her person. At least four characters are enraptured with her: a high-ranking politician (Gerard Depardieu) who wants peace with the Germans; a reporter who's really a German spy (Peter Coyote); a young writer named Frederic (Grégori Derangère); and a wealthy, uncouth financier. When the latter ends up dead and Frederic agrees to take care of the body, a chain of events is set in motion that lands the innocent writer in jail and leads to Viviane becoming the minister's mistress. To further complicate matters, a Jewish professor and his pretty assistant (Virginie Ledoyen) are trying to get to England with several containers of heavy water, that, if they fall into German hands, could be used to make an atomic bomb. After Frederic escapes from prison, he ends up alternately helping the professor, dodging the law, and trying to reconcile with Viviane.
Bon Voyage successfully evokes the feel of Paris in the 1940s, but it is less effective in telling its story. The pace is rapid, but there's a lot of wasted energy. Characters move from place-to-place with dizzying speed, but there's a sense of repetition - that each interaction is like the one before it and that nothing is really happening. How often, for example, do Frederic and Viviane have essentially the same conversation? Or Viviane and the minister? In the end, Rappeneau ends up jettisoning several prominent supporting characters simply because there's no "clean" way to conclude all of their subplots. Two romantic triangles are resolved in unsatisfying manners to allow the protagonists to have a sunset moment.
The film's tone is, in many ways, its salvation. The moments of heaviest melodrama are a little tongue-in-cheek (I cannot believe that Gabriel Yared’s soaring score isn't edging towards parody at times), and there are several intentionally comedic sequences. By keeping things light, Rappeneau allows us to forgive (at least to an extent) the fact that none of the characters are developed to a satisfying level. He’s saying "have fun; don't take things too seriously." Good advice, to a point. However, any serious comments he's trying to make get lost along the way.
The acting is first-rate, but we would expect nothing less from this group of performers. The standout is Isabelle Adjani, who, looking 20 years younger than her actual age, fashions a marvelous character. Viviane is both manipulator and ditz, and may be as much a victim of her own shortsightedness as she is a victimizer. Grégori Derangère (who looks a little like a young Geoffrey Palmer) proves to be an affable hero - both a man of thought and a man of action. Virginie Ledoyen is as lovely as ever, although she is underused. And Gerard Depardieu gives us a few nice moments as a man who wants peace at any costs.
So what's the verdict on the movie? Bon Voyage can be enjoyed for what it is, provided expectations are kept low. The frantic pace staves off boredom, but I spent a great deal of the movie feeling that I was being let down - that there was so much more to the characters and situations than what we are provided with. That, I suppose is the difference between a great historical drama and a mediocre one. Despite its small pleasures, Bon Voyage falls into the latter category.
© 2004 James Berardinelli