The Party's Over at Luna

Élodie Bouchez (as Laurence de Préville) and Laure Calamy ((as Nadine Azizi)) in The Party's Over
Photo Credit:  Cheyenne Federation

I was lucky enough to watch the preview of The Party’s Over (Classe Moyenne). The trailer had caught my attention as Laure Calamy (one of my favourite actresses) is starring in it. My partner and I had seen her in the French TV series “Call my Agent”which we had thoroughly enjoyed watching.

Set the scenario of a wealthy French couple (Phillipe and Laurence Trousselard) with their daughter Garance, spending 3 relaxing months at their luxurious holiday home in the south of France –  complete with a pool on the edge of the property with spectacular views – with everything attended to by an on-site caretaker family (the Azizi’s) who have been looking after the property for many years. All the Trousselards have to do every day is relax,  until things take a turn for the worse when the Azizi’s spark a flame with words and actions that cannot be retracted, bringing tensions that have been brewing for some time to the boil.

Along with the Trousselards is freshly graduated corporate lawyer Mehdi (Sami Outalbali) – the daughter’s boyfriend who is there as a guest. He does not come from such a privileged background and as events start to spiral out of control, the question that comes to the fore is will Mehdi be able to mediate between the two parties?

The movie starts out normally enough but soon turns into a chain-reaction of sequential disastrous events – one right after another. It had me in stitches – perhaps laughing too loudly in parts – at the ridiculousness of the snobby behaviour by the Trousselards, and the cutting reality of the caretaker family’s actions in their fight to get revenge and seek justice.

Though absolutely hilarious in a Machiavellian sort of way, the film excels in its insightful commentary about society and relationships between societal classes.

Director Antony Cordier has cleverly adapted the screen play by Alain Laban and Steven Mitz to create this film and steps it up with its menacing take on societal norms and what happens when they fracture.

Movie goers who enjoy a good French comedy drama with sharp biting satire will enjoy this one. It’s unique romp looking into social classes, what divides us, and what really gets up our nose at times and makes for a very entertaining and insightful movie.

The Party’s Over opens at Luna on the 27 August.

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