Un grand cri d'amour

Josiane Balasko adapts her own play for the screen. Hugo and Gigi, a couple of star actors, have been separated for a while, and their public has started to forget them. A producer tries to get their careers going again by uniting them in a play, but the aggression between the two is almost too much for the company to stand. It's a frail story, but the interplay between Richard Berry and Josiane Balasko is often delicious. One smokes, the other doesn't, one drinks to excess, the other doesn't. The rehearsals are made longer and more tiring by the hostility on stage, which the director--the wonderful Daniel Prevost--can do little about, try as he may. It was good to see Richard Berry again; he's a fine actor with a very expressive face who is seen infrequently on this side of the Atlantic.