Starring: Lambert Wilson, Fabrice Luchini, Maya Sansa
Gauthier Valence (Wilson), the star of an extremely popular medical drama, travels the home of Serge Tannuer (Luchini) a retired and reclusive actor living just outside La Rochelle. Gauthier's ambition is to lure Serge back onto the stage with the two of them performing Moliére's The Misanthrope. However, egos clash threaten to stop the collaboration before it even begins.
A film project co-written by and starring Fabrice Luchini, Bicycling With Molière is a film that explores the nature of acting, channeling it through the work of one of France's most cherished writers. What results is a film with an interesting subject and, on occasion, brilliant performances even if it is a little impenetrable for audiences unfamiliar with Moliére or, his work in question, The Misanthrope.
As a film about acting, Cycling With Molière provides a convincing and intriguing look into the acting process. It's when the film focuses on that aspect that it reaches its greatest potential. Both of the actors in the lead, Lambert Wilson and Fabrice Luchini give good performances in general, but they really excel when they are actually performing. These are actors playing great actors and in the process showing themselves to be great actors but it's dealt with in the right amount of realism and character flaws to ensure it doesn't come off as narcissistic.
The film also allows for some nice contrast between our two main characters who are, in terms of career, extreme opposites. Lambert Wilson's Gauthier is famous and popular but his work on television is implied to be middle-of-the-road and not particularly good. Meanwhile Serge, played by Fabrice Luchini is revered for his craft but no longer works and is often seen as pompous. It's a shame that as well as the film explores its main characters, it often neglects the romantic subplot forming in the background with the two men interacting with Francesca, an Italian divorcee played by Maya Sansa with the main points of the plot thrown together towards the end of the film. There's also a sub-plot involving Gauthier and an ambitious porn star looking to sharpen her acting skills that never fully pays off.
Given that the film the film is called Bicycling With Molière it's not surprising that the playwright and his play, The Misanthrope figure into the plot but it frustrates that what we get are emotional character descriptions and scenes played between the two main characters devoid of the play's context. We just get the actors reciting the lines with it seeming to only vaguely resemble the actors' lives late on. As such, this probably is much to the benefit of those familiar with The Misanthrope but those who aren't might feel slightly isolated and lost on the film's plot and themes.
As it goes, Bicycling With Molière is a decent film that rewards the viewer with some great acting and a fairly enjoyable plot that unfortunately suffers from being a little too knowing of its inspiration for its own inspiration for its own good but Molière fans may still feel the benefit.
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