Woody Allen’s “Coup de Chance” (2023), despite the marketing team trying to bill it as his 50th film, rather remarkably snuck under the radar. (Creative math was used. I’m guessing the counters skipped his short film in “New York Stories” and his TV movie “Don’t Drink the Water” and only counted his full-length theatrical directorial releases.)
This is of course because Allen doesn’t have an American distributor after being culturally canceled due to Mia Farrow’s questionable allegations, but our loss is France’s gain in this Paris-set rom-dram. Despite plumbing the familiar themes of infidelity and hit-jobs, “Coup de Chance” (“Stroke of Luck”) is unique in one way: It’s his first entirely foreign-language film.
An American director in Paris
It’s no insult to say “Coup de Chance” doesn’t tackle these themes as well as the masterpieces “Crimes and Misdemeanors” and “Match Point,” but it’s breezily enjoyable. I would say incongruously breezy, but we’ve seen Allen walk this fine line of tones before.
“Coup de Chance” (2023)
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Stars: Lou de Laâge, Niels Schneider, Melvil Poupaud
The film uses a selection of light jazz that’s a tad more vibrant than elevator music, not diverting from this mood even when the plot goes into the territory of Fanny (Lou de Laâge and her striking blue eyes) cheating on her overbearing rich husband Jean (Melvil Poupaud), who is rumored to have bumped off a former business partner. It doesn’t even switch tonal tracks when it goes into murder and corpse disposal.
Nonetheless, we feel the tension ratchet up, beginning at the point where Fanny meets old classmate Alain (Niels Schneider) while walking to work and he says he’s always had a crush on her. They meet for several lunches and we know where it’s going – and where it shouldn’t. So does Jean, with the help of a private investigator, and Fanny’s mom Camille (Valérie Lemercier) likewise wasn’t born yesterday.
Despite Fanny’s relatable anxiety over big life choices, Allen continues his trend of not being interested in portraying realistic economic situations. Alain – the Allen stand-in — is an unpublished writer, yet he has his own apartment in Paris, and it features multiple rooms. Allen’s only concession to Alain’s low (if any?) income is that it’s on the top floor and therefore some walls are slanted.
Lost and found in translation
While the English subtitles are nicely done in the version I watched on a free-with-ads streamer, “Coup de Chance’s” humor doesn’t bite like Allen perhaps assumed when writing the script. The zingers – “I feel like having children and all I have is anxiety” — don’t zing in the language translation, but I appreciate them in the abstract.
Still, Allen’s scriptwriting has not waned much. As with “Cassandra’s Dream” and “Irrational Man,” it’s a joy to watch him assemble familiar puzzle pieces in a new way. Legendary cinematographer Vittorio Storaro returns to capture Paris with a lighter touch than was seen in “Midnight in Paris,” as the location isn’t the point here. Good ole romantic walk-and-talks in a park will bring a nostalgic glow to fans’ innards.
(SPOILERS FOLLOW.)
A mild disappointment comes at the end. “Coup de Chance” has many places it could go, especially since random luck is the core theme. Maybe Alain somehow escaped the hit men, maybe Fanny and/or Camille will find a way to turn the tables on Jean. Perhaps there will be a twist springing from clues we missed.
But nope, a random hunter’s shot in the woods takes out Jean, and the problem is solved. But not perfectly, since Alain is dead. Allen doesn’t cheat us, considering the consistently stated theme, but it’s hard to deny that the message of random luck is far more resonant in “Match Point.”
(END OF SPOILERS.)
“Coup de Chance” is middle-of-the-road Allen overall, but add another achievement to his resume of 50(-ish) films: He can tell a gripping story in French. Bien joué.