Flightier and more accessible than Bertrand Tavernier’s uncannily similar World War II-set dramedy Safe Conduct, Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s Bon Voyage is also less dependable. Before the Germans invade France, would-be writer Frédéric (Grégori Derangère) helps diva actress Viviane Denverts (an ageless Isabelle Adjani) do away with the body of one of her lovers. The Nazis arrive just in time to perpetuate a prison break, and soon Frédéric is rubbing shoulders with politicians, flames, spies and romantic foils in Bordeaux.
Over the course of nearly two hours, Rappeneau’s constantly moving camera observes his characters as they shift alliances and avoid capture. The major plot thread follows Frédéric’s attempts to help a professor and a student, Camille (Virginie Ledoyen), smuggle Heavy Water out of the country, all the while trying to clear his name. Elsewhere, we get snapshots of Viviane uncomfortably watching herself on film, and this despite her supposed love of mirrors. In Bordeaux, Rappeneau positions her relationship to Frédéric and a French politician, Beaufort (Gérard Depardieu), as theater for the displaced, upper-class masses.
The story is playfully overplotted, and though the characters lack depth, Rappeneau’s happily contends himself cataloging the non-stop intrigue. At its best, this exercise in fly-on-the-wallism recalls a less shrill version of Robert Altman’s Ready to Wear. Pity, then, that the farcical tone of the film is so inconsistent: Adjani and composer Gabriel Yared hit the right Sirkian notes, and despite some last-ditch self-reflexivity, Rappeneau never allows his camera to completely unhinge. The filmmakers will tell you otherwise, but there’s never a sense here that these characters are living out the movie Viviane can no longer make.
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