Cert 12A
113 mins
BBFC advice: Infrequent strong language
Here's an oddity - a quintessentially English play, performed by French actors.
Life Of Riley, written by Alan Ayckbourn and set in the Yorkshire countryside, has been adapted for the big screen by famous French director Alain Resnais.
The comedy surrounds the life of a terminally ill man called George who has huge impact on three couples.
The movie starts with the revelation of his condition by a GP (Hippolyte Girardot) to his wife (Sabine Azema) without him realising that she is one of George's former flames.
He swears her to secrecy over the state of his patient but within a minute she has blurted it out to his best friend (Michel Vuillermoz) whose wife (Caroline Silhol) also has the glad-eye for George.
Woven into the mix becomes George's ex-wife (Sandrine Kiberlain) and her new Beau (Andre Dussollier).
The movie then becomes a tug-of-war between the women over George's affections and the effect this battle has on the three men.
Life Of Riley is made in the style of a staged play with occasional cuts to the real-life English countryside.
This makes it different to any movie I have previously seen but also meant that it took a little while for me to be on the same page.
Thereafter, I found it quite quaint with echoes of those old-fashioned British farces but, disappointingly, it failed to make me laugh.
That said, I think regular theatre-goers might appreciate the nuances much more than I did.
Director Alain Resnais: "Something fairly rare happened in this film. The offcut bin - the place we throw the deleted scenes into - was empty. Nothing had been cut, everything had been shot."
Reasons to watch: A quaint take on an Ayckbourn play
Reasons to avoid: Doesn't have any big laugh moments
Laughs: none for me
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 6/10