Romantic Film Review - Le Weekend

Le Weekend is a little serious at times, and definitely for the older marrieds, if you are looking for some romance. Not that it isn't romantic for those under fifty-five, its just that it deals with some rather heavy conceptual relationship issues that may be relevant and important when you are nearing retirement, but just end up being a great big downer if you are at an earlier stage in life. its a very beautiful film, beautifully written, acted and filmed, and set in Paris which is always pleasant and evocative. 

Nick (Jim Broadbent) and Meg (Lindsay Duncan) Burroughs are in Paris for a weekend that we get the feeling he has arranged and she as reluctantly agreed to attend, that may be an attempt at recreating the couples honeymoon, or at least a far more successful trip from many years earlier. They bicker and they laugh and get on well and drive each other nuts as one would expect from a couple who have spent a lifetime together. 

But soon cracks start to appear in the relationship. Nick has lost his job and is worried about money and their kids, they reluctantly confess, are no-hopers. They scamp around Paris reminiscing on their lost youth and lamenting problems in their relationship: his, their lack of physical intimacy, hers their brooding existence that goes no where and does nothing. Slowly, as the weekend grinds on, these issues come to a head and the couple are forced to face they are officially in a crises. 

Le Weekend does have a happy ending, I'll toss that in not so that its a spoiler, but so you know why I have included in my romantic film reviews, and as I said above, I can imagine it being very appealing to an older couple, because it is frank and honest about a certain age and a certain lifestyle. the best part, besides seeing the older couple fall madly in love again, is watching them romp around Paris and the final montage where they dance the same dance scene taken from the 1960's Godard film Bande Apart, the dance scene that inspired Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction dance scene. the images of Paris are very romantic and I can see an older couple watching this film together, and then having a bottle of wine and chatting deep into the night about the issues raised. 

Romance isn't only for the young, and its always a welcome thing to see a very romantic film place itself in the essence of the concerns of a different generation. this is a great romantic comedy, if you don't mind a good square meal before you get to your sugary dessert.