Insufferably arty, this is the French version of a botched Hollywood blockbuster: It’s misguided, self-indulgent and nonsensical. Written and directed by Claude Lelouch (1966’s A Man and a Woman), the movie stars Jeremy Irons as an aging jewel thief with a tendency to black out. He leaves France in a luxury yacht, washes up in Morocco and meets a French nightclub singer (Patricia Kaas) who’s also given to blackouts. Obviously, it’s love at
first shared conscious moment. The movie itself is far less streamlined than this plot recap would suggest. There are random asides – many of which have little to do with the two leads – and extensive sequences of Kaas performing. A professional musician making her film debut, Kaas also has the annoying habit of breaking into song during conversation, usually when Irons’ thief makes some inane observation about love, life and/or death. It was at about this point that I was hoping their penchants for passing out would become contagious.
