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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER
Published:14 May 2009

Eric Cantona as film director Thierry Grimandi in French Film

Cantona gets his kicks from behind a camera

FRENCH FILM
Directed by Jackie Oudney
Certificate 15

THE French can teach the uptight English a thing or two about love – or can they? That is the simple premise of this well-paced comedy starring football idol, Eric Cantona.
He plays stuck-up film director Thierry Grimandi (surely that was an Arsenal player?) who faces a grilling from journo Jed Winter (Hugh Bonneville).
Jed is not impressed with his interview subject’s theories on love, dismissing them as pretentious nonsense. But as things begin to go awry with his long-term girl, Cheryl (Victoria Hamilton), he begins to rethink his own perceptions of relationships, and what the director was trying to tell him.
Kentish Town-based film writer Aschlin Ditta, who can often be found poring over his scripts in the gentle surroundings of the Rustique Literary Cafe on Fortess Road, was behind the Hampstead Heath movie, Scenes of a Sexual Nature, and his wit and charm is apparent throughout.
Although it has an able cast throughout, it is inevitable that Cantona’s role commands the attention. Cantona’s acting abilities are not really in question – Ken Loach, who is used to working with rank amateurs and making them look like seasoned professionals, testifies that he has what it takes. And surely we all remember the preening and puffing of his chest as he strutted around the grounds, with that odd turned-up-collar look which fans either loved or loathed? He was an actor when he had the ball at his feet, and nothing has really changed except his girth (he is not as trim as the days when he had Fergie breathing down his neck).
Not a bad stab at a role which offers the occasional hurdle to negotiate.

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