SECOND CHANCE (La Chance de ma vie) (2009)

Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Nicolas Cuche
Cast: Virginie Efira, François-Xavier Demaison, Raphaël Personnaz, Armelle Deutsch, Thomas N'Gijol, Brigitte Roüan, Marie-Christine Adam, Élie Semoun, Francis Perrin, Jean-Claude Tran
RunTime: 1 hr 27 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene and Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Festive Films and Filmgarde
Official Website: http://www.lachancedemavie-lefilm.com/

Opening Day: 31 May 2012

Synopsis: Julien Monnier has a serious problem. He may be a brilliant marriage guidance counsellor, but he can never manage to have a steady relationship for more than two weeks. And for good reason: since he was very young, Julien has brought bad luck to every woman who has fallen in love with him. Really bad luck. Luck that obliges you to go to hospital several times a week, that ruins your professional life, or causes you to fall out with family and friends for a lifetime. Julien is a total black cat where women are concerned. Joanna Sorini will quickly learn this at her own cost the day she crosses paths with him. A career that is taking off, a love life that seemed to at last take a good turn; all of this risks changing drastically.

Movie Review:

Can true love overcome bad luck, asks the French rom-com ‘La chance de ma vie’, and the answer in this Hollywood-slick offering is of course a definitive yes. But to get to that happily-ever-after, product designer Joanna (Virginie Efira) and marriage counsellor Julien (Francois-Xavier Demaison) have to get through some of the most unluckiest episodes in life that could befall an individual, let alone a couple- though sadistic as it may sound, it is at their pain that we are supposed to laugh at.

Indeed, when we first meet Julien, he has gone into reclusion at a monastery where away from members of the opposite sex, he can do no more harm to them. A hilariously stitched sequence of flashbacks shows his series of unfortunate romances starting from when he was just a young boy, and three strikes is all it takes for him to realise that he is the one behind his partner’s misfortunes. In a brilliant stroke of dramatic irony, Julien is in his adult life an unconventional albeit very successful marriage counsellor- and it is thanks to his profession that he meets Joanna.

Both guests at a wedding party, Joanna later seeks out Julien to confront her own marriage woes with a self-absorbed workaholic of a husband- the latter inconsequential really, and functions as little more than an excuse for Julien to offer her company, solace and a chance at a brand new start. Concomitantly, her luck runs out in dramatic fashion, as freak accidents happen unremittingly at work, on dates and even while enjoying a massage with her mother.

There’s a hint of ‘Final Destination’ to the cleverly devised mishaps, but screenwriters Luc Bessi and Laurent Turner are shrewd enough to ensure that these inconveniences never turn out being too extreme for amusement. So laugh you will at Joanna’s spate of arse-luck, as both Joanna and Julien are powerless to stop the onslaught- and it is as if some form of divine being were testing the strength of their love for each other.

Thankfully, when the time comes for the trials to end, Bessi and Turner don’t resort to some deus ex machine- instead, they opt for an elegant sleight of hand that lends a new perspective on the past calamities, a change of outlook we should sometimes bear in mind as well when things do not go our way. And for his part, director Nicolas Cuche (making his big-screen directorial debut) keeps the tone light and frothy and the pace brisk and lively, so that formulaic as it may be, his movie never once loses our attention.

Cuche also has his lovely cast to thank for that. Efira is a delightful revelation in her first leading role here, warm, funny, sensitive and utterly endearing- it’s no wonder to the audience why Julien is so head-over-heels about her. Wisely letting Efira’s natural luminance occupy the limelight, Demaison plays it straight as the average-Joe who’s met a girl out of his league, and his down-to-earth sincere demeanour has its own low-key charm.

And yes, Efira and Demaison may not be known this side of the world, but it’s about time that we let some other French actress besides Audrey Tautou win our hearts. In fact, Efira’s winsome performance here is reminiscent of Tautou’s own whimsically appealing screen presence, and it is Efira who truly makes this rom-com shine. Both Efira’s Joanna and Demaison’s Julien may be seeking a second chance at love at some point in the movie, but you won’t need more than one opportunity to fall in love with Efira. 

Movie Rating:

(The rare French rom-com we see here without Audrey Tautou, this is nevertheless funny, engaging and winsome thanks to an utterly delightful performance by newcomer Virginie Efira)

Review by Gabriel Chong