A new genre of film is emerging. Hollywood is trying to sell them as the offspring of "Roman Holiday", but in reality they are nothing more than extended tourism advertisements. Whether its Julia Roberts in "Eat Pray Love", Steve Coogan & Rob Brydon in "The Trip" trilogy, or Diane Lane in "Paris Can Wait", the protagonist is compelled to travel, and their travels are accompanied by sight-seeing and food sampling. Whereas "The Trip" trilogy is honest about its advertising, films like "Eat Pray Love" and "Paris Can Wait" try to veil it under a thin plot. "Le Week-End" belongs to the same category as "Eat Pray Love" and "Paris Can Wait". Like "Eat Pray Love" the couple of "Le Week-End" pursue travel as an answer to their problems (in both cases, the problem is an unhappy marriage, but whereas "Eat Pray Love" follows a middle-aged woman escaping their marriage, "Le Week-End" follows an older couple firmly trapped in their marriage and seeking rejuvenation). The audience is compelled to ask: "Why travel? Why not a marriage counsellor?" Ostensibly, they have chosen travel because they have watched too many film like the one they are starring in. The true nature of a film like "Le Week-End" is revealed in the scenes that forego character and plot development for the sake of sight-seeing and food sampling. These scenes always included impressive shots of the architecture (here the Eiffel Tower, there the Louvre). And, despite their lack of substance, they are drawn out and indulgent (Lindsay Duncan samples a glass of wine, turns to Jim Broadbent, says, "That's the nicest thing I've ever put in my mouth"). The couple (and the film) is finally rejuvenated by the arrival of Jeff Goldblum. Need I say more? In closing, I don't know why I expected more from "Le Week- End". It's a Hollywood film like any other, and Hollywood has been increasing the presence of product placement in its films ever since E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial increased the sales of Reese's Pieces. When we're watching a Hollywood film, let's not pretend we're watching anything other than an extended advertisement.

Right from the start,"Le Week - end" pins its colours to the mast.That Miles Davis soundalike ultra - cool 1950s jazz,the sharp close - ups,the moving cameras,yes folks it's a retro nouvelle vague picture but instead of Moreau or Belmondo it has stolid old Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan as pension - age Brits stumbling(literally in his case) around movie - cliché Paris apparently in a bid to save a thirty year marriage that's about as salvageable as the "Titanic". The dialogue has that Oxbridge veneer of cleverness that you just know would never be delivered by any human being except on late - night TV shows replete with smug intellectuals greedy for Channel Four's money.Even Mr Broadbent with his hurt Labrador eyes looks as if he is trying to get his words out as quickly as possible to get it over with. Miss Duncan - his shrewish wife(and if I'm being unkind to shrews I herewith apologise) dons a false smile occasionally but is as unpleasant in her own way as Miss Thora Hird in "A kind of loving". She is the kind of woman who would shrivel a man's gonads at a glance,except for poor old Jim who returns to the scene of the crime like a whipped cur. Mr J.Goldblum has lines even smarter and his New York Intellectual schtick is amusing in his first scene but quickly deteriorates into parody. He plays Jim's old Cambridge buddy(natch),quite possible his alter - ego if you want to go into things a bit more deeply - which I didn't. I bet he liked the soundtrack as he's a nifty jazz pianist himself. Not funny,not dramatic,not romantic,"Le Week - end" joins the legion of British films that flash across the sky like a comet to disappear and come back in five hundred years time when large brains welded to wheelchairs may well wave their tentacles in delight and proclaim it as a masterpiece. It is the sort of film that lends credence to M.Truffaut's oft - quoted maxim that the words "British" and "Cinema" should not be uttered in the same breath. Something that will never be said about him.

Le Week-End (2013)A sensitive portrayal of a retiring older couple heading from England to France to celebrate their marriage. This is a quiet film, depending on the script and the acting of the two leads, as well as the American intrusion halfway through. And it doesn't hold up. It requires something extraordinary (see "L'Amour" or even "Before Sunrise") and the writing, as "normal" as it tries to be, is just another recounting of known empathies and responses.The acting is certainly naturalistic and believable, overall. It is only when Jeff Goldblum arrives as the brash, overly self-effacing, and rather suave American that see how truly dull this British couple is. Not that Goldblum's character is admirable, exactly, but more that the main couple is so stifled it's unbelievable.Eventually there is meant to be a kind of celebration and coming out, a breakthrough in everyone's personas (all three). The symbol for this is the famous, quirky dance (called the Madison, I hear) that we first see on a t.v. in a room, and then the characters actually "dance" this quaint number at the end. The poignancy is a given—too given, I think, but it's there, and if you've followed the very slow development of events you'll be glad for this, at least.So, not a great movie even though it has the tenderest and most lofty of intentions. The reference to the Madison, and the movie that made it famous, Godard's "Band of Outsiders," is a bit facetious. It forces playful seriousness on the characters, and on "Le Week-End," which has a title that should have been a clue to the striving and limitations of the final result. Too bad. The best of it is special, but the total effect is a bit dismissible.

I was interested in "Le Week-End" for a couple of reasons. I have enjoyed Jim Broadbent in many things. Also, I am nearing the age and have a lot in common with the characters--though after seeing the film, I am glad the similarity only goes so far. Unlike the couple in this one who have been married 30 years and now realize how little they actually like each other, after 28 years, I am still thrilled I married my wife and recently returned from a trip to Paris with her. Our trip went a lot better...thank goodness.The film begins with Nick (Jim Broadbent) and Meg (Lindsay Duncan) arriving in Paris. They're there to celebrate their 30th anniversary and so they've returned to this city for the first time since their honeymoon. While hopes are high, their trip doesn't go as planned and the hotel they stayed in the first time is now a dump. And, with so many plans going awry, they slowly begin to examine their lives and how they, too, are not exactly the way they hoped they'd be. What follows is a movie that shows the couples working through some ennui and coming up with a better understanding with each other.Overall, I liked the acting in the film very much. Broadbent and Duncan seemed quite good in these roles. Unfortunately, as far as the material goes, it was purely adequate--not bad but not especially memorable either. It left me wondering is this all there is...just like the couples did earlier in the film.