There was a time when life had a few certainties – the sun would rise in the morning, the tide would flow in and out, and Woody Allen would release a film almost every year, like clockwork. For reasons that are quite obvious surrounding his personal life, the latter has essentially ceased, and in the past five years, he has only made three films, each one of them quietly feeling like it could be potentially his final film. The closest we have gotten to a potential swan song comes in his most recent offering, which has not been definitively stated as his last film, but comments that he made around its production allude to the fact that Allen is not intending to work as steadily as he was in the past. Coup de Chance is an interesting film for several reasons – it is the director’s first film entirely in another language, a decision that carries dual purposes, both being a chance for him to challenge himself as a writer, and because it was essentially made with entirely French funding, so it only seemed logical to make it as authentic as possible – after all, Allen has openly spoken about the friendship he has with France and its artistic industry. Coup de Chance is also his fiftieth film, which (if the rumours are true that this might be his final work) would be a solid, round number on which to end his career. Regardless of the production details that surround the film, we find that this is quite an interesting entry into the esteemed director’s illustrious career – directing in another language, especially so late in one’s life, is quite an accomplishment, and while it is hardly an achievement that feels out of the reach of someone like Allen, it is still relatively impressive. In a career spanning nearly seven decades, and featuring many classics, it’s not clear if Coup de Chance is the best conclusion to his impressive run, but even if it is, there is a lot of merit embedded in this film, enough to make it quite an intriguing affair.

Looking at both the premise and its execution, Coup de Chance is a quintessential Allen project – it is a genre-bending dark comedy that focuses on neurotic characters who find themselves in a precarious situation, and have to find some way out or risk the consequences. The difference between this film and the ones Allen made earlier in his career is that the characters in this film, much like thematically similar works Match Point, Cassandra’s Dream and Irrational Man (to which this is constantly compared), are played with life and death in this scenario. The film’s concept is very simple – a young woman encounters an old friend from her school days, and they rekindle their former friendship, which causes her to realize that her happy marriage is not nearly as perfect as she imagined – and as luck would have it, her husband is a career criminal with a shady past, and once he catches wind of what he accurately suspects is his wife’s infidelity, he sets in motion a plan to get revenge, with all the expected consequences and complications along the way. Much darker than the effervescent, quirky comedies Allen has made over the years, but still a very funny comedy that draws a lot of inspiration from the French New Wave, Coup de Chance is a very intriguing film that captures a specific tone that we don’t usually find in a lot of cinema these days. This is a film about idiotic people in increasingly dangerous situations, executed with razor-sharp precision that cuts right to the core of the matter and leaves very little space for ambiguity, which has always been one of the director’s greatest traits, and something he continues to showcase, even in some of his lesser efforts. In a lengthy career, situating Coup de Chance is a difficult process, but it is clearly something that carries a lot of merit and keeps us invested, even if it is only effective on a surface-level, and some of the depth is merely an illusion, which is something we find in a lot of Allen’s work over the past two decades, where it almost feels like he has lost that spark of ingenuity and resorted to more atmosphere-based films. This isn’t always applicable to Coup de Chance, which still has its fair share of brilliant and bespoke moments, but it does have a few elements that hearken back to his peak as a filmmaker.

Coup de Chance is not necessarily a return to form – it is far too abstract and different from a lot of Allen’s previous work to earn such praise, and there are far too many elements that come out of left field for us to be entirely comfortable with the direction the film takes after a while. However, it is possibly the best film he has made in a decade, precisely because of how it pushes him out of his comfort zone and forces him to find new ways to tell this story. He is consistently playing around with genre in increasingly fascinating ways throughout this film, which is one of the reasons his hard-turn towards more dramatic material in the 1980s, and then again in the 2000s, was such an interesting period for him as a writer. Coup de Chance is arguably still a comedy – if anything, it is the perfect collision between the self-deprecating, darkly comical existential satire and bleak, harrowing social drama with major undercurrents of film noir that Allen occasionally dipped into at various points. It may not be as successful as it perhaps could have been, likely because he was more involved in trying to write and direct in an entirely different language, a challenge for any filmmaker, especially one that had never attempted such an endeavour before. Yet, it still feels like one of his most unique and dynamic films in years – the humour is a lot more polished and focuses less on quirk wordplay and more on the inherent comedy embedded in an existential crisis. Allen does well in mimicking this kind of slick, elegant European thriller, but you can still easily see his traits shining through brilliantly in ways that are perhaps slightly more unconventional but still feel very much within his wheelhouse as a director. It’s not at all a perfect film, but it has many interesting ideas, both in terms of the story and how it is executed, to keep us engaged, which is quite an achievement, even if it is entirely expected from such a seasoned veteran.

Allen’s decision to make a film in France with an entirely French cast and crew meant that he now had access to an entire country’s inventory of actors, and considering his status, it is not absurd to think that he was spoiled for choice when it came to casting this film, especially since multiple prominent actors have stated their desire to be directed by him. Interestingly, he opts to go for a decidedly more subtle cast, filled with some solid actors, but not being the all-star affair we may have expected. The film is led by the wonderful and beguiling Lou de Laâge, who is the perfect Allen protagonist – slightly neurotic but with a good sense of humour and a lot of complex emotions, which helps develop her into a much more endearing character. She’s joined by Melvil Poupaud as the film’s main villain, and Niels Schneider as the object of her affection, and the catalyst for the events of the film – both actors play off de Laâge very well and develop seemingly one-dimensional characters into complex, nuanced individuals filled to the brim with complex ideas, which makes for a thrilling and exciting story based around their love triangle. You will rarely find me saying anything positive about Valérie Lemercier, since her tendency to go broad to the point of being extremely shrill and excessive is never appealing – but in Coup de Chance, she is surprisingly subtle, and brings this character to life with a lot of elegance that feels almost out of character for an actor who usually steers her acting style towards playing to the rafters, so it was a delight to see her portray someone a lot more subdued. The entire cast helps make Coup de Chance quite an elegant affair, which was very important considering Allen’s intentions with the story.

Whether or not Coup de Chance is Allen’s final film remains to be seen – he has been quite elusive on the subject, and the general perception is that he is eager to continue working, but the combination of his advanced age and the fact that he is struggling to get funding has contributed to his diminished workflow, and people are generally not as invested in his work as they were in the past. It would be unfortunate if this were his final film – it is certainly by no means a poor work or anything to be dismissive about, but rather it feels like whatever he chooses to end his career on should be closer to home, both geographically and thematically, rather than this peculiar experiment that does work, but perhaps not enough to be his swan song. However, simply taken for what it is – a genuinely charming blend of romantic comedy, psychological thriller, social satire and film noir, Coup de Chance is wickedly entertaining. It moves at a steady, snappy pace and doesn’t waste a moment – the camera moves fast, and the cast keeps up with it, tackling Allen’s dense but poetic dialogue, handling the oscillation between humour and pathos in extraordinary ways, and ultimately becoming quite a thrilling affair. It may be quite pedestrian in most of its ideas, and no one legitimately would believe it to be his finest work, but this film does present Allen the opportunity to try something different, which is a welcome change of pace, considering how much of his output in the last twenty years has been firmly within his comfort zone. Its social commentary may not be sharp, but it makes up for it in sheer ambition, and if anything is proven by Coup de Chance, it is that Allen still has it in him to try new styles and ideas, and hopefully he still has a few films left in in him, since the same spark of chaotic genius is still very much present in his work, as shown throughout this delightfully peculiar and genuinely compelling film.