Review by John P. Harvey.
Fanny (Lou de Laâge), working for an auction house and married to high-flying financier Jean (Melvil Poupaud), runs into a very different man, a poet, Alain (Niels Schneider), who has harboured a crush on her since they were at school together. After a few meetings, and without being sure why, Fanny embarks on an affair with him.
These three characters display a degree of self-absorption that you might expect of a movie written and directed by Woody Allen. But the film doesn’t, as some early Allen films do, focus on that self-absorption. It focuses rather on what results; the tensions that build as Jean begins to suspect the affair; Fanny’s attempts to understand what she’s doing and why; and the affair’s fallout.
Our own tensions begin escalating when we learn that Jean’s former business partner long ago disappeared, never to be seen again. The soundtrack throughout quietly maintains that tension and pushes the film forward, inviting us to wonder what dangers lie ahead.
As in many of Allen’s more recent directorial efforts, plenty of characters add interest to the film; and such solid actors and actresses as Guillaume de Tonquédec, Jeanne Bournaud, Anne Loiret, Arnaud Viard, Elsa Zylberstein, Grégory Gadebois, Valérie Lemercier, and Sara Martins bring them to believable life.
Regrettably, the camera work is very annoying. Shots are set up beautifully and lit perfectly; but most, if not all, of the shots of an individual or two in conversation are focused either on an object near the speaker or on the background, a bewildering thing to occur on a high-budget film. With that caveat, the film has much going for it, with superb setup, pacing, and acting and a great soundtrack. Coup de Chance may not take a stand one way or another on marital infidelity, marital honesty, or what is just, but its climax provides a poetic justice that’s indubitable.