Coup de Chance Review
Take a chance on “Coup de Chance.”
Written and directed by Woody Allen, “Coup de Chance” marks the prolific filmmaker’s 50th film. For this entry, Allen does something a bit different in that he shot the film in France and in French with a French cast. The Paris set story begins with a divorced writer (Alain) having a chance encounter with a former classmate that he had a crush on (Fanny). Fanny works at an auction gallery and is currently married to the wealthy Jean. Jean is a high society type who likes to spoil Fanny, but there’s something a bit off about him. He’s possessive, jealous, and his job and past remains shrouded in mystery. Fanny begins to socialize and have lunches with Alain more and more and eventually has an affair with him. Despite feeling guilty and anxious about the whole situation, she also feels revitalized by being with Alain. Suspecting something is going on, Jean hires a private eye to see if Fanny is indeed cheating on him. From there on out, the story takes a darker turn. To say anything more would be entering spoiler territory, but it should be noted that Fanny’s mother Camille also plays a large role in the story.
After premiering at the Venice Film Festival last year, the ever controversial Woody Allen’s latest film “Coup de Chance” became a sort of an underground hit before being recently picked up by MPI Media. It’s not hard to see why as this is easily Woody Allen’s best since “Blue Jasmine” (although “Irrational Man,” “A Rainy Day In New York,” and “Cafe Society” are all rather underrated works).
There’s certainly an air of familiarity with “Coup de Chance” as Allen has treaded similar ground in films like “Match Point.” This is a multi-genre picture that is part drama, part romance, part dark comedy, part neo-noir, part crime-drama, and part thriller. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but the jazz soaked film does prove that Allen can still tell an absorbing adult story about chance, luck, love and jealousy late in his career. Story wise it’s very straight forward, but as with any Allen film, it’s very much a character piece about relationships. This one just happens to have a darker edge to it rather than being a straight up comedy ala “Annie Hall.”
Interestingly, the film is shot by famed cinematographer Vittorio Storaro who gives the film a real visual flair. Woody Allen is no stranger to having films capture the life of a city (especially New York), but with Storaro’s keen eye this film really captures Parisian life in a very picturesque manner.
There may not be any big name actors in this project, but there’s no shortage of notable performances. Lou de Laâge (who plays Fanny) is a real find. She gives such a charming and naturalistic performance. Melvil Poupaud (who has had a varied career over the past several decades) is perfectly cast as the slimeball Jean. Rising star Niels Schneider makes a nice impression as the lovestruck writer Alain. Valérie Lemercier (a writer and director in her own right) really steals the second half of the movie as Fanny’s mother Camille.
“Coup de Chance” will be released April 5 in select theaters and digitally April 12th.
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