Coup de Chance * * * *

Woody Allen has always been loved by the French.  Perhaps they are more interested in what an artist actually does, rather than the gossip and unproven accusations that surround him?

At 87 he is still going strong and with Coup de Chance he gives back to the French with a film set in France and spoken in French. It's more French than a French film.

Nous aimons Woody.

What I've always appreciated about Woody is that he doesn't need to waffle on for three hours to tell his story or make his point. He seems to know that after two hours things rarely get better anyway.  

Coup de Chance is a crime drama (absent of police) that runs for about 90 minutes and although we are not always on the edge of our seat we remain intrigued.  

By chance, a man meets a woman on the streets of Paris.  They have not seen each other since college. They strike up a warm and friendly conversation. She is now married to a very wealthy man whose income is a mystery.  Although she has a job of her own, through her husbands considerable wealth she is enjoying a lifestyle she could ill afford herself.  Because she is very pretty she might be considered a trophy wife.

She agrees to meet her old friend again, and again, and again. They tell themselves they are just reminiscing - catching up, but it quickly becomes more than that. Her wealthy husband develops suspicions and soon has her lover caught out - and dealt with.  He is made to "disappear."

She is saddened that he has gone but obviously she cannot share her sadness or say anything to her husband without admitting to her affair.   However she does tell her Mother who is visiting them. Her mother begins to wonder about the rich husbands involvement and gets a little bit too sticky-nose. The husband decides that the mother-in-law has to go too.

A twist in the end - indeed, an unlikely Coup de chance - brings things to a neat and poetic conclusion.

Like, Cafe Society and An Irrational Man, the dialogue is smooth and bouncy but lacks the hilarity of his early caper comedies. 

Nevertheless it's a fine small drama from a New Yorker,  told in the best style of French cinema.