Under The Rainbow
Director: Agnes Jaoui
Actors: Arthur Dupont, Benjamin Biolay, Agathe Bonitzer
Release Date: Saturday 30th November 2013
Genre(s): Factual, Romance
Running time: 112 minutes
Laura (Agathe Bonitzer) believes that she's met her prince charming at a party in the exact same way she's always dreamt of, but when it turns midnight, Sandro (Arthur Dupont) has to go collect his mother, leaving nothing but a shoe behind as a memento for Laura. She goes back to her father and her wicked step-mother, who believes all the surgery she's had done means she's still the fairest one of them all. Sandro continues writing his music, and crosses paths with Maxime Wolfe (Benjamin Biolay), a man of power but who is clearly not to be trusted. Laura and Sandro soon cross paths again, and instantly fall head over heels in love, but this is real life – is there room for fairy tale romance in the modern world?
Writer/director Agnes Jaoui injects a lot of intelligence and mirth into this rom-com, and at times Under The Rainbow strikes the balance of taking the mick out of storybook relationships and the cynical vision we have of them today, while mixing them together perfectly. Opening each new scene like a chapter heading, with a matte-painting before blending into the action, as well as the smart, modernized references to specific fairy-tales – including that lost shoe at midnight, and The Wolf(e), and loads more we won't spoil for you here – and Paris, as always, looks as romantic a place on Earth as their ever can be.
It's far from happily ever after elsewhere, though, with the story running on at least 30 minutes too long, and the overwhelming number of supporting characters making it sometimes difficult to keep track of who is related to who. Plus there are whole segments when the movie seems to drop the whole fairy tale-riffing aspect, which is a shame because this really is when Under The Rainbow truly shines.
An imperfect but very cute oddity, and one crying out for a smart U.S. writer and director to remake and improve upon.
