\n\t\u201cThe Party\u2019s Over\u201d is a mostly entertaining satire that follows the escalating conflict between an entitled rich couple, the Trousselards, and the Azizis, the husband and wife they employ (off the books and at less than market rates) to look after their luxurious holiday home. Both families have young adult daughters, near in age, albeit not in circumstance. Compared to a similarly-themed film such as \u201cParasite,\u201d it lacks the sharpness of plot and empathetic characters that would make it truly memorable. Nonetheless, the piece has a number of things going for it: top actors obviously relishing their roles, some amusing dialogue, a lovely villa location in the south of France and an attractive musical score by Cl\u00e9mence Ducreux that sounds both serious and mocking. Festivals and screening platforms rep the most likely venues outside of French-speaking countries to host the \u201cParty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSnobbish, self-important Philippe (Laurent Lafitte, suitably obnoxious), a lawyer given to throwing obscure Latin locutions into his everyday speech, and his former actress wife Laurence (the elegant \u00c9lodie Bouchez) welcome young law graduate Mehdi (Sami Outabali, the most sympathetic character), the latest boyfriend of their wannabe actress daughter Garance (No\u00e9e Abita). That Mehdi comes from a different \u2013 and lower\u2013 social class is immediately obvious. Not only has he worked his way through school as a waiter and delivery boy, but he lacks the social graces of his hosts. From their point of view, everything he does is slightly off, from his clothing choices to his hostess gift to his conversation.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor the Trousselards, cushioned as they are by their money, seem to feel that those in service to them should be at their beck and call. Thus, Philippe feels justified in interrupting the Azizi\u2019s birthday dinner celebration for their daughter Marylou (Mahia Zrouki) to get Tony (Ramzy Bedia) to fix a clogged sink. And Laurence feels free to tell Tony to refrain from going about his chores shirtless and to ask his wife Nadine (Laure Calamy, delightful) to be careful of smears when she cleans their windows.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Trousselards don\u2019t hesitate to dispense unsolicited advice to Mehdi, too. Laurence explains that the reason that Philippe\u2019s firm hires sons of lawyers as interns is because they have confidence and know the milieu of the clients. She tells Mehdi that he is too polite and apologetic.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen Philippe\u2019s condescending manner finally provokes Tony, who likes a drink or two, into an attack that Philippe considers unforgivable, he decides to dismiss the Azizis. But Tony and Nadine prove resistant. As tensions rise, Mehdi offers himself for the dangerous role of go-between, to negotiate a settlement between the warring sides.<\/p>\n
\n\tAlong the way, the screenplay aptly skewers Philippe\u2019s type, the sort of man who delights in cooking the produce of his organic garden, pairing expensive wines with his meals, yet doesn\u2019t know the correct temperature at which to wash a load of whites. The acting profession also comes in for a few jabs. Laurence launched her career as a skimpily-clad ingenue. When Mehdi tells her the name of his father\u2019s favorite film, she notes wryly, \u201cThat film captured the male imagination. But don\u2019t worry, I\u2019ve made some with clothes on too.\u201d To prepare for her first role, Garance tries and fails to summon tears, but by the film\u2019s end, she finds that she can make them flow all too easily when recounting a fiction of supreme importance to her family.<\/p>\n
\n\tHelmer Cordier assembles an ace ensemble, whose acting choices are always fun to watch. A particular standout scene comes when Calamy insists that Bouchez (who also lounges by a pool in a swimsuit in the Directors\u2019 Fortnight opener \u201cEnzo\u201d) join her in a hot tub.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cParty\u201d marks Cordier\u2019s fourth feature. It screens in the Directors\u2019 Fortnight 20 years after his feature debut, \u201cCold Showers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Party\u2019s Over\u201d is a mostly entertaining satire that follows the escalating conflict between an entitled rich couple,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[6639,2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-123871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-cannes-film-festival","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}