Review of Le Week-End (2013) by Marc M — 21 Mar 2014

A very sweet movie now out in cinemas in French speaking territories and on DVD in the UK, a sexagenarian British couple celebrate their 30th anniversary / second honeymoon over a weekend in Paris... and celebrate is not all they do in this new film from Roger Michell written by fourth-time collaborator Hanif Kureishi ("The Mother", "Venus"),.

..the couple played by ace actors Jim Broadbent & Lindsay Duncan will get to see the Parisian sites, sleep in a 5 star palace they can't really afford, drive each other nuts, escape through the backdoor of an expensive restaurant without paying, reconcile, re-enact scenes from one of their favorite J.

-L. Godard Nouvelle Vague films, get at each other's throat, reconcile, visit Samuel Beckett's grave at the Montparnasse cemetery, separate, reconcile again, be gentle and affectionate to one another, all the while running amok in Paree like two elderly-teenage-lovers.

...LE WEEK-END is a heartfelt bittersweet film for audiences who appreciate the likes of "Mr Morgan's Last Love", "Quartet", "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", ... with a dash of the "Before Midnight" crisis thrown in, but the characters here are so much more lovable, tender and even touching because they are played by Broadbent and Duncan who are both in absolute top whimsical form !!