Coup de Chance

By Joanna Langfield

Woody Allen’s 50^th film is his most nimble in years.

A quietly ambitious piece, filmed and presented in French, has a little bit of something for everyone. It’s a romance, wryly comic. But it’s also a mystery, a thriller and whodunnit, told in almost muted but assured tones. While we sit back and watch it all unfold, we are reminded of earlier Allen works, but this one feels fresher than most of the more recent of his releases. Pretty impressive for a now 88 year old.

This twisty tale centers on Fanny, a beautiful young Parisian, who, by chance meets up with an old high school mate. He had a major crush on her then. And he seems to have not lost that flame. But Fanny is married. To a somewhat mysterious but very successful business advisor. They have a great apartment in town, an even better retreat in the woods. It’s all pretty good for Fanny. And yet, she is intrigued by the reappearing writer. And by the idea of an affair.

I won’t spoil what unspools. It’s too much fun to watch it happen. And it’s a treat to see a master push himself to work, not just in another language, but with a cast that’s accomplished in France, but not internationally known. That might not be the case for long, as Lou de Laage, Melvil Poupaud, Niels Schneider and Valerie Lemercier are all terrific, and I hope we’ll be seeing more of them.

Allen, who insists he will never retire, feels re-energized with this, the latest in what has been an astonishing 50 film career. Is that just by chance? Or, by shaking things up a bit, did he choose to find a new, professional zeal? As his film tells us, some things just happen. Which, when you think about it, is pretty much what Allen has been telling us for years.