The Germans are about to take Paris, and what are the Parisians worried about? Securing reservations at the Hotel Splendide in Bordeaux.
There will be no roughing it in the provinces, thank you very much.
“Bon Voyage” is a World War II picture told from the point of view of the conquered. And what better way to make peace with defeat than to turn it into high farce?
Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau (“Cyrano de Bergerac”) and adapted from Patrick Modiano’s novel, “Bon Voyage” is an ensemble comedy of vanities packaged in period panache and nostalgic nods to get-out-of-Dodge war movies such as “Casablanca.”
The French government and the socialites have high-tailed it out of the capital. Paris’ prisons are emptied, too, and among the rogues and scamps is the wrongfully accused Frederic (Gregori Derangere), a lovesick, aspiring poet-novelist who got saddled with a murder rap courtesy of Viviane (Isabelle Adjani), a spoiled actress accustomed to men sacrificing their dignity for her.
Viviane is also involved with the French interior minister Beaufort (Gerard Depardieu), a wobbly, high-minded Nazi appeaser. A shady English reporter (Peter Coyote) is also on her trail and might have ties to Berlin. (Mr. Coyote, the American actor-writer, speaks excellent French and German.)
Crosshatched into the love triangle is a subplot involving a Polish-Jewish physicist (Jean-Marc Stehle) and his young assistant (Virginie Ledoyen), who are trying desperately to spirit a shipment of heavy water to England before the Nazis capture it for atomic-bomb designs.
All these players and plots collide with efficient humor and, eventually, a welcome dollop of real romance. Each of these characters is consumed with personal dramas that, in the context of a collapsing continent, are perfectly ridiculous.
Example: Viviane interrupting an urgent French Cabinet meeting with a confession of foul play.
That such an interruption is possible can only mean we’re in the movies, which is where “Bon Voyage” begins and ends, predictably but sweetly.
***
TITLE: “Bon Voyage”
RATING: PG-13 (Mild sexuality; some violence)
CREDITS: Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau. Produced by Michele and Laurent Petin. Written by Mr. Rappeneau and Patrick Modiano. Cinematography by Thierry Arbogast. Music by Gabriel Yared.
RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes, in French with subtitles.
WEB SITE: https://www.sonyclassics.com/bonvoyage
MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS
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