Anyone who has ever been in any kind of romantic relationship will undoubtedly know that it takes work to be a committed partner and more than a few loving companionships are built on a foundation of trust, virtue and honesty, as well as the ability to be with one another through whatever challenges may be presented through the unexpected nature of life, whether they come from the outside world or manifest internally. This is the premise that propels Le Week-End, the charming and insightful comedy directed by Roger Michell, whose work is impeccable as always, especially since he is collaborating with esteemed author Hanif Kureishi, who wrote the screenplay on which the film is based (and brings the same level of profundity and wit to this story as he does any of his other texts), and which tells the story of Nick and Meg, an older couple who travel from their home in small-town England to the enchanting streets of Paris, where they hope to momentarily trade in their drab, ordinary existences for a weekend of splendour and joy, celebrating their anniversary by commemorating the city in which they spent their first few moments as a married couple all those decades before, but there are ulterior motives both bring along. Deeply funny, but also heartfelt in ways that are sometimes quite surprising (all the while avoiding saccharine emotions as far as possible), Le Week-End is a charming comedy that tackles the concept of love in as broad a form as possible, developing various ideas in an intimate but profoundly moving setting. It is all very charming, but it has a ferocity to it that keeps it from being too formulaic, and with someone as reliable as Michell (who was one of the industry’s most consistent journeyman filmmakers) at the helm, there was very little doubt that Le Week-End would be anything less than a tremendous and insightful comedy with as much heart as it had intelligence, both of which exist in an abundance throughout this film.

On the surface, Le Week-End seems extremely simple and conventional – it is a film about an older couple venturing into a new city that is quite literally foreign to them, except for a brief trip there many decades before, and focuses on their experiences trying to navigate the various hilarious challenges that come about in the process. It seems to be a relatively straightforward comedy of manners, the kind that Michell was often known to make, where a simple premise is combined with a lot of soul to create a memorable but often quite slight work that doesn’t bear too much resonance as an artistic work outside of a few strong ideas. Even if we do view this film along these lines (which is foolish, since there is a deeper conversation being had throughout the process, but we’ll speak about that in due course), this doesn’t necessarily warrant too much of our ire, since it is still a fascinating work that offers us a compelling and warm-hearted story, one that balances humour and pathos with an almost spectacular amount of control. Culture clash is always a very strong way of ensuring that your film is perfectly calibrated to the audience and their usual excitement for seeing well-crafted comedies occurring around familiar subjects – and the idea of an eccentric British couple being unleashed into Paris is already the foundation for a terrific, charming film that knows exactly how to handle some of its more unconventional material in a way that is funny, engaging and heartfelt, without relying on a high-concept narrative to push it along. As we often see, the more simple a comedy is, the more effective it is, especially with these low-key, intimate comedies that take a rudimentary idea and develop it, while remaining true to the vision of the story as a whole, which is always a formula for a great film, which is the perfect encapsulation of what makes Le Week-End so special, in both narrative and emotional content.

However, it doesn’t take long for us to realize there is something much deeper simmering beneath the surface, and that at its core, Le Week-End is a far more complex film than it appears at a cursory glance. There comes a moment when the delightful humour begins to dissipate, and we instead find ourselves confronted with a more bleak depiction of a marriage that has lost its spark. These dramatic interludes give the film an abundance of depth and help us view it as far more than just a mildly entertaining romantic comedy, but rather something that is bursting with a precise candour, which can be quite challenging for those who aren’t prepared for the nuances associated with such a story. This is a film that is undeniably in love with Paris, both as a location and a concept, and it is unlikely that many other cities could have been used as the backdrop for this story – after all, the film’s main conflict is built around the irony that a couple travels to the proverbial City of Love, where their relationship is called into question and they stand on the precipice of their marriage falling apart. Michell’s films often feature engaging conversations around the human condition and everything it represents, so it only makes sense that this film would be all about exploring those key components, while still finding ways to be bitingly funny in the process. Much of this entails a firm understanding of how to handle the emotions, and there is not a single moment throughout Le Week-End where the plot comes across as inauthentic in any way – there are a few melodramatic moments, and Michell doesn’t refuse the chance to engage in the occasional flight of fancy, but the overall tone of the film is quite realistic and almost entirely free of overt sentimentality, which may cause it to feel quite jagged in some parts, but in a way that is always very interesting and never disingenuous, which is a great commodity for such a film.

Part of the appeal of Le Week-End is the presence of the two leads, with Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan being formidable actors who lend their talents to this film, which benefits immensely from their fantastic work. These are not characters that seem all that compelling on the surface, and it often seems like these are performances well within their wheelhouses. Neither appears to be challenged by these roles, which are so closely aligned with the kinds of characters they normally played, that it almost feels like an opportunity for them to simply just appear on screen, rather than challenge themselves. However, as the film progresses, we begin to see just how interesting these characters are, which is a credit primarily to the director and his ability to keep us engaged and invested without it becoming too obvious what he is doing with the material, allowing it to retain some element of surprise, albeit not in the sense that it is particularly inventive work. Le Week-End is built on the interminable charisma of the two leads, who are so magnetic on screen and have extraordinary chemistry (which is the product of a career of working across from several of the greatest actors in the English language, while being able to stake their claim to such a title themselves), which makes the story all the more plausible since we forget that we are looking at two actors, rather than a real longtime married couple, which just goes to show the extent to which these actors are willing to go to play such fascinating characters. Jeff Goldblum also appears, albeit in a relatively small but no less important role, which is an absolute delight and one of the many reasons to appreciate this film and how it approaches its characters, with grace and wit aplenty.

A truly lovely and heartwarming film, albeit one with a few jagged edges that prove that it is not anything to be dismissed as merely mindless entertainment, Le Week-End is a terrific and quaint comedy that knows how to handle some of the more serious subject matter associated with such a story. It is always very promising to see a filmmaker as dedicated to capturing the intricacies of the human condition in as vibrant and compelling a form as we see in Michell, whose recent passing was an immense loss to the world of cinema, since his reliability and incredible prowess at not only storytelling but also working with actors was unmatched, which is precisely why this film works, as it combines his skillfulness in working with a screenplay written by quite a formidable authorial voice, and creating such a vivid and honest depiction of reality. It is a truly masterful excursion in exploring the genre, combining both comedy and drama and adding layers of romance to both to create such a thrilling and earnest investigation into the life of this couple. Le Week-End is a truly fascinating work, and quite simply one of the better films produced on the subject of a marriage slowly eroding in passion and dedication – but at its heart, there is something so wonderfully quaint about all these themes working together, and this film proves to be a truly powerful and poignant glimpse into a world that is recognizable but still quite abstract, a charming and interminably delightful work that proves the value of a story well-told, and a group of artists willing to commit themselves to this wonderful endeavour.