My Wife Is An Actress

Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal Director: Yvan Attal Original UK Premiere: 2002 Dvd Release: 19th May, 2003 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Subtitled, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: English

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DVD Extras: My Wife Is an Actress comes to disc in a clear full-screen transfer, although the dialogue's a little muffled here & there--a fault of the original, not the transfer. By way of extras we get the theatrical trailer, a likeably relaxed 16-minute making of featurette & a handful of not very interesting deleted scenes.

My Wife Is an Actress stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, ex-child star, daughter of Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin, beautiful & accomplished actress, alongside her real-life husband Yvan Attal, who also directs. Attal is a humble sports journalist married to a famous international star & uncomfortable with her celebrity. His first film as a director plays knowingly with off-screen reality: the two leads even use their own names, Charlotte & Yvan, for the characters they play.

In the film, Charlotte goes to London to appear in a romantic drama opposite British movie icon John . Left at home, Yvan torments himself with thoughts of his wife playing sex scenes with John & his jealousy puts their marriage at risk. His visits to her on the set in London only make things worse.

Theres scope here for some good comedy, as well as an interesting exploration of how, in an actors life, reality & artifice can snarl each other up. But Attal, who also scripted, makes his characters so shallow & two-dimensional that its hard to believe in them, let alone care about them. A sub-plot about the squabbling between Yvans sister & her husband over whether their unborn son should be circumcised feels tacked-on & tiresome. In aspiring to script & star in his directorial debut, Attal may have overstretched himself. Given a stronger script, this could have been a funnier or more searching film, or both.

Charlotte Gainsbourg, daughter of French poet & singer, Serge Gainsbourg & actress Jane Birkin, was born on July 22, 1971 in London, England. Growing up in a theatrical/musical bilingual family, she made her motion picture debut in the 1984 film Paroles et musique. In 1986 she won the Cesar Award for Most Promising Actress for her appearance in Leffrontée & in 2000 she won again for Best Supporting Actress in the film La Bûche. In addition to her acting career, she has made two record albums & sung the title song in one of her films. Ms. Gainsbourg works & lives in France. She is married to French actor & director Yvan Attal, father of her two children. La merveilleuse odyssée de lidiot Toboggan --. Lemon incest recorded at age 13 with her father. Charlotte Forever songs written by her father. Love, etc title song from her 1996 film of the same name. Posters Of 21 Grams

Editors Choice: 21 Grams, My Wife Is An Actress, The Cement Garden, Merci La Vie, View DVDology

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