Bon Voyage

This romantic wartime action adventure period comedy-drama is as entertaining as it is fast- paced - and believe me, it moves really fast. There are numerous characters and stories compacted into this one film - you're meant to absorb the introduction of characters, a homicide, a prison escape, the arrival of war, and all within the first twenty minutes.

The story is set during the Nazi invasion of France, and is essentially about the misadventures of an actress, a writer, a government minister, an artful dodger, a German spy, and a physics professor with his assistants who are desperate to smuggle some bottles of heavy water to England.

This is one of those movies where everything seems perfectly timed, the music gets over-the- top at the melodramatic moments, the set designs are expensively lavish, and the characters all wear nice clothes and look pleasant even in the rain. On that note, the actors chosen fit their roles perfectly. Derangère has such sincere and naive eyes that betray his character's personality (and weakness); Adjani is perfect as the self-absorbed actress; as is Attal as the happy-go-lucky thug who seems to glide in and out of difficult situations effortlessly and always with a smile.

The plotline is delightfully contrived. Characters cross paths at the right moments, and with different combinations. There is a lot of scurrying around behind each other's backs, and every character undergoes at least one moment of wide-eyed disbelief at seeing another character they didn't expect to see. The humour is playful and farcical – you forget it's all set during turbulent times.

Though one doesn't normally pay attention to these things when watching a film, it's very obvious here that the director makes it a point to concoct interesting mise-en-scene. In one scene, when Viviane the actress is quarrelling with one of her lovers in front of onlookers, the scene is shot in such a manner that it looks like a play being acted out in front of an audience.

A fun period piece that reminds us of the basic reason why we go to the movies, and delivers exactly that – entertainment.

Sebastian Ng