Suite Francaise

Today's guest reviewer is my good pal Jerry, another IMDB regular - we meet every few months for an afternoon of drinks, chat, gossip and swops and lends of obscure dvds ..... I am actually seeing him again this Saturday, as we had to postpone our Christmas meeting. Here is his take on SUITE FRANCAISE which he enjoyed a lot .... it ticked a lot of boxes for him, liking Kristin and Matthias as he does ...

"SUITE FRANCAISE, 2014 - Would you let a hot Nazi occupy your back parlour? is the probing ethical dilemma at the heart of this lush,smooth, well mounted and extremely silly but engaging tale of forbidden love. Michelle Williams is our heroine - living in occupied France in a small village - her husband a POW in Germany. Billeted with her is Bruno, a nice Nazi (hunk du jour Matthias Schoenaerts) - we know he is nice because he plays the piano, minds his Ps and Qs - and doesn't much like executing the villagers. Before you can say "Vive la Difference" Michelle loses her scruples and her knickers and they are at it all over the manor house. Will Michelle's mother in law (Kristin Scott Thomas in full frosty bitch mode) get wind of their romance? Will Matthias' superiors discover their illicit liaison? Will love build a bridge or lead to the firing squad ? - Good range of supporting villagers - at the top of the social spectrum are Lambert Wilson & Harriet Walter as the Mayor and his wife - (unluckily made an example of) .. at the bottom are dirt poor farmers Sam Riley & Ruth Wilson - and somewhere in between with her legs in the air is village bike Margot Robbie, who figures the German soldiers are fit and horny and therefore fair game (and I'm with her all the way on that one - the scene of the Soldiers performing their ablutions in the village square look like out takes from the Night of the Long Knives in Visconti's THE DAMNED ). It's all very old fashioned and tense towards the end as Riley kills the nasty Nazi who is after Wilson and hides out in KT's attic, and Matthias finds his loyalties tested . It ends a bit abruptly - the source being an unfinished manuscript by a holocaust victim discovered years after the event. Williams , who I admired greatly in TAKE THIS WALTZ and the MARILYN film - is very variable here - and KST could do this sort of part in her sleep - and whilst Schoenaerts is good I think he looks better with a beard (see FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD) Wilson seems like a star in the making - highly recommended to anyone who likes old school romances of a VERBOTEN nature - don't let the lukewarm reviews - "Mon Dieu!" said The Standard  - and absence of any other support put you off. Directed by one Saul Dibb." 

Yup, its an ideal treat for a wet afternoon, with some chocs to hand ..... don't let those snooty movie buffs who only see important films put you off. A Trash Classic or superior B-Movie in the making then.