Not on the Lips (2003)
A frothy 1925 operetta, performed by a glittering cast that includes Sabine Azema and Audrey Tautou, might not sound precisely like the great director Alain Resnais's glass of champagne. ButNot on the Lips(Pas sur la bouche) is in a line of Resnais films that uses false sets and stylized acting for its effect. This musical farce follows a wife (Azema) trying to keep her husband (Pierre Arditi) from learning that she was actually married once before--to an American who is about to become hubby's business partner. Awkward. Audrey Tautou, in a distinctly supporting role, navigates the trickery of flirtation as she tries to attract lounge lizard-y Jalil Lespert. Azema and Arditi are smooth as glass, but the standout here is Lambert Wilson (the French dude of theMatrixsaga) as the tall, cigar-smoking American businessman, who disdains the un-hygenic dangers of kissing on the lips. Wilson's delivery of English phrases and his American-accented French is spot-on--you can hear the joke even if you don't speak French. The lightness of touch is maintained throughout, however gently the director ofLast Year at Marienbadmay be prodding at the undercurrents of Franco-American hostility (which probably seemed more loaded in 2004 than in 1925) and marital anxiety.--Robert Horton