postmortem-books Review of Le Week-End

Le Week-End (2013)

A grubby little shocker (as in shocked it was made in the first place)

[2/10 · 16 October 2013]

We went to Le Weekend not sure what to expect but had a vague idea it would be a reasonably light-hearted jaunt across Paris with a middle-aged couple enjoying a 30th wedding anniversary and trying to re-kindle their honeymoon adventures. The small cinema we visited was fairly full with the same age viewers (50-70) who undoubtedly expected the same. What we got - and what is stuck dreadfully in my mind - is the vision of Jim Broadbent crawling across the carpet asking Lindsay Duncan if he can sniff her crutch. Oh god, just writing that has brought up the scene like a lump of sick in the mouth. The character of Meg (Lindsay Duncan) is one of a complaining harridan who goes off in a huff if she doesn't get her own way although we learn later that Nick (Jim Broadbent) had had an affair some years before which has obviously soured their relationship. There is some kind of nonsensical denouement which revolves around the couple's sudden financial largesse but this is a film that doesn't travel well beyond the confines of the academic chatterati who will love it, darling. For the rest of we plebs, it seemed a load of pretentious drivel.