4/5

Review by John P. Harvey.

Philippe (Laurent Lafitte) and Laurence (Élodie Bouchez) have brought their daughter, Garance (Noée Abita), and Garance’s boyfriend, Mehdi (Sami Outalbali), to the island home-away-from-home that they use for three months of the year. There they greet the caretaker family of three who, living just down the hill, have maintained their home for the past decade: Tony (Ramzy Bedia) and Nadine (Laure Calamy) and their daughter Marylou (Mahia Zrouki).

Philippe and Laurence clearly feel entitled to the service they’ve always received from Tony and Nadine. Philippe even asks Tony to interrupt his family celebration of Marylou’s birthday to clear a blocked sink. From Philippe and Laurence’s point of view, Tony and Nadine are on call when Philippe and Laurence are there and to maintain the property for the remainder of the year.

But Tony and Nadine’s resentments have been mounting. Tony is conscious of a lack of basic respect by his employer, and Nadine is conscious of their financial disparities. And when Philippe’s disconnection from his caretakers’ reality leads him to offend Tony once too often, all hell breaks loose.

Loosely described as comedy, The Party’s Over! has its serious side. In fact, about half way through, dramatic elements overtake the film’s comedic elements, raising questions of legal and ethical responsibility — questions that nobody necessarily resolves in any sensible way.

In this sense, what emerges in the movie’s climactic scene is that only one of its characters has truly become a worthy protagonist. The other characters rather tend to play upon their relationships for their own selfish ends, and the remainder of the film hammers that home. Sadly, the fate of its worthiest character seems designed to illustrate the maxim “No good deed goes unpunished”. Even so, both the comedy half and the dramatic half of the movie offer plenty of entertainment and food for thought. With actors of the calibre of these, the viewer can’t help but laugh and grimace in turn.

Screening at Palace cinemas.