Audrey Tautou casts a spell – as ever! – in this star-driven French romantic comedy, where a case of unrequited love sparks all sorts of emotional mischief. Sun-splashed Sête on the Languedoc coast provides the picturesque environs as handyman Sami Bouajila (familiar from heavyweight dramas Days of Glory and Outside the Law) pines for Tautou, who runs the hairdressing salon where he works and has no idea how he feels. He pens an anonymous love letter, which she immediately tosses away, only to have second thoughts and send a redrafted version to her mum (Nathalie Baye), who has been on her own for years after her artist hubby left for a younger woman. Receiving the mystery missive puts a smile on Baye’s face, but it doesn’t help Bouajila’s cause, as writer-director Pierre Salvadori teasingly piles confusion on confusion. All three principals lay on the charm to get the most out of the ensuing misunderstandin gs in a light-hearted, unpretentious entertainment which moves with nimble, quintessentially Gallic grace.
Notes by Trevor Johnston
