Le Divorce Review:

Le Divorce is a melodrama that balances the odds of diversity, conflict, and values between American and French cultures. The film opens with a young American named Isabel (Kate Hudson) arriving in Paris to entertain her sister, Roxy (Naomi Watts). Literally as she is walking in the door, Roxy’s French husband (Melvil Poupaud) is leaving her for another woman. Roxy then spirals in to a deep depression by her husband’s abandonment, which leaves her a daughter and another baby on the way. With Isabel there for support, Roxy is then seen as stubborn for not signing divorce papers, which leads to a clumsy subplot of her American family and her French family in a legal bout over a valuable painting owned by Roxy and her husband. Isabel also begins an affair with a much older French politician named Edgar Cosset (Thierry Lhermitte), who also happens to be Roxy’s husband’s uncle. The story then turns more into a drama than a witty comedy, and is drenched by its over-the-top finale.

Based off of Diane Johnson’s novel, Le Divorce was written by Ruth Prawer Jhabuala and James Ivory. Ivory also directed the film and produced it along with his long-time collaborator Merchant Ivory. Director Ivory’s balance of juggling the clashing of French and American cultures is what keeps this film afloat. There are few giggly moments, and some under hidden parallels thrown into the script. However, the intended moments of simile and the dreadful ending of this film just gets out of hand. It seems that the dunce ending comes from another dimension, instead of coming to a satisfying close. After watching this film a second time around, the ending is more ridiculous than before, the film also seems to drag more as well.

Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts are pleasant in each of their roles as American sisters. Thierry Lhermitte brings the womanizing politician Edgar Cosset to full life and Glenn Close is sturdy in her small role as a smart novelist. The one weak performance in the cast is by Matthew Modine as a crazed husband, who just becomes intolerable at times.

Le Divorce works on some levels, such as the continuos cultural clashes. However, the film lacks consist pacing and the ending really brings the entire film down to mediocrity.

Picture & Audio

The film is transferred clear and full of a bright array of colors. The DVD menu itself is reminiscent of the opening credits, and is sharp and witty. The DVD can be seen in full-screen (pan and scan 1:33:1) on side A of the disc. The wide-screened (2:33:1) format of the film can been seen on side B.

The sound of the disc is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and Dolby Surround 2.0 for the French and Spanish tracks. The dialogue comes across as very crisp and besides a few moments of reoccurring wind; this film does not have too many moments for great sound, with the dialogue driving the film.

Extras

Outside of the witty opening menu, there are absolutely no special features on the Le Divorce DVD at all. It is very surprising to me, there is no theatrical trailer, making of, interviews, or commentary features. The film did not do that poorly at the box office, I have no idea why Fox Searchlight would not want to invest more into this DVD. It is really unfortunate and baffling, considering that awful movies are packed with cool features and this average film has a zero for features.

Overall

Le Divorce works well on the levels of cultural clashing; there are some bright spots in the film and some inconsistencies as well. James Ivory takes a step away from his usual craft style (Howard’s End, The Remains of the Day), but is productive of his balance in Le Divorce. The film is nowhere near a must see, but it has its own fans of the book, in which most were disappointed in this on-screen adaptation. Kate Hudson is pleasant surprise in her role as the curious American Isabel. As a DVD, the presentation and audio are fine, but it is really embarrassing for this disc to not have one special feature. Also, as do most Fox Searchlight DVDs, you have to flip this one over to watch the film in wide-screen if that is your preferred choice.

The Film: C
Video Quality: B
Audio Quality : B-
Extra Features: F

DVD as a whole: C-

Joseph C. Tucker

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