Cinema- Orchestra Seats

Catherine (Valerie Le Mercier) is a big TV soap star who dreams of being taken seriously and moonlights in a local theatre. Jean-Francois (Albery Dupontel) is a hen-pecked concert pianist so sought after he’s booked up concerts for years ahead. Jacques (Christopher Thompson) is a serious art collector who, sick of the world he moves in, has decided to sell every piece he owns. Orchestra Seats is an ensemble movie that tracks the lives, Altman-like, of these three characters (and more besides, including faded Hollywood director Sydney Pollack), until they meet in a café, and all their urban crises come together. We haven’t yet, though, mentioned the main protagonist of this film, Jessica (Cecile de France) a gamine ingènue who has come to Paris to make a name for herself and ended up working in the aforementioned cafe. Her breezy optimism is a foil to the jaded cynicism of the other characters. The denouement of the movie depicts no fewer than five happy endings. Charming, but as sweet and substance-less as a dollop of crème brûlée. DL

Other movies this week:
Saturday: Dreamgirls. Eddie Murphy stars in the latest musical by Bill Conlon of Chicago fame.
Sunday 3pm: Miss Potter. Rennee Zellwegger stars in this sweet-as-pie biopic of Beatrix Potter
Sunday 5pm: Last King of Scotland. Forrest Whittaker puts in a towering performance as Idi Amin in an otherwise so-so political thriller.