rom Patrice Leconte a small masterpiece whose beauty and originality forgoes special effects and Mr. Dolby ‘s exaggerations. Shot in black and white, the film tells the story of Adele (Vanessa Paradis) and Gabor (Daniel Auteuil) who meet by chance on a Paris bridge. Lovelorn and melancholy Adele is about to toss herself in the Seine. But mystery man Gabor, a knife-thrower, intervenes.
What follows is a visually exquisite adventure about chance in which finding happiness hinges on a simple premise: You make your own luck. An excellent soundtrack cues the exotic mood. So does Marianne Faithful’s singing, matched to scenes where Gabor wings his knives at petrified Adele. She’s frozen at first but then relaxes, finding pleasure in the risk.
Auteuil and Paradis make Leconte’s movie unforgettable. Their pitch-perfect emotions create a tender, sometimes foolish portrait of two drifters seeking a place in a tough and magical world where anything can happen if you want it badly enough.
