10 Certified Fresh 2014 Movies That Nobody Saw

6. Le Week-End

Palo Alto Emma Roberts
Curzon Film World

Paris seems like it should always be the setting for tales of true love - not films like Le Week-End, which finds a couple nearing retirement age hoping the city of love will cure their stagnant relationship. Hardly a straightforward romance, it's a film about what happens in a marriage when husband and wife have become two figures staring vacantly side-by-side.

As Nick (Jim Broadbent) and Meg (Lindsay Duncan) quibble over whether it's the excitement of the new or comfort of the old that will bring them more happiness now the children have flown the nest, it appears as though Le Week-End is set to be an anti-romance through-and-through.

But the film's ultimately too joyful for that - director Roger Michell can't help but wish to bring the couple back together, or throw in Mr Charisma Personified, Jeff Goldblum, as Nick's old friend, to highlight their affection. Broadbent and Duncan have such an easy rapport, by the time the glorious Bande A Part homage comes late in the game, you'll be willing to forget the previous hour-and-a-half of Nick and Meg sniping and accept they still have a chance.

Contributor
Contributor

Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1