Coup de Chance
Woody Allen's 50th film pays homage to previous work, impresses.
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Cancel culture is a weird thing. I haven’t watched a new Woody Allen movie in almost a decade – this, in spite of enjoying a lot of his work. I believe the last one I saw was the Joaquin Phoenix/Emma Stone-starrer “Irrational Man” from 2015. I made this decision somewhat over the sex abuse allegations and somewhat because word largely suggested his most recent output was shit.
(For the record: I’ve never entirely warmed up to Roman Polanski or his work because I find “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown” to be good but overrated … and it’s hard to forgive a grown man for raping a 13-year-old girl regardless of the horrors he suffered beforehand. I see Tom Cruise and John Travolta movies despite thinking Scientology is an inherently evil organization. I still watch Mel Gibson movies despite not admiring his anti-Semitic comments nor his treatment of ex-girlfriends. I’m not going to throw away movies I own starring Kevin Spacey, but I wouldn’t see a new vehicle starring him.)
I had some trepidation over agreeing to watch and review Allen’s 50th film “Coup de Chance” (in select theaters beginning Friday, April 5 and available on VOD beginning Friday, April 12), but when the opportunity presented itself I must admit I was curious and thought writing about the project would prove an interesting challenge.
“Coup de Chance” concerns a young woman named Fanny (Lou de Laâge) who works as an art auctioneer and is married to wealthy older man Jean (Melvil Poupaud). By happenstance Fanny runs into her high school classmate Alain (Niels Schneider) on the streets of Paris. He admits to having had a huge crush on her and asks if they can get lunch sometime. She accepts, a friendship blossoms and quickly develops into something far deeper despite Fanny still having feelings for Jean.
I don’t want to delve too much deeper into the movie’s plot because it’s fairly short (96 minutes) and simple. Suffice it to say Alain disappears, Fanny’s despondent and Fanny’s mother Camille (Valérie Lemercier) grows suspicious of Jean and begins investigating him.
“Coup de Chance” is Allen working in a mode reminiscent of his more star-studded mid-aughts offerings “Match Point” and “Cassandra’s Dream.” It’s his first French language film despite having received predominantly French funding for years now. It’s listed as a comedy, but I’d say it leans far harder into the genres of drama, mystery, romance and thriller. That said the picture’s conclusion is darkly, deliciously funny and laced with irony.
This is well-acted, well-shot by Allen’s frequent, recent cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and well-written by Allen himself. Fans of Allen’s oeuvre will likely enjoy it if they haven’t written off the auteur already.