Based on the novel by Diane Johnson, Le Divorce illustrates contrary American and French views regarding marriage, divorce and adultery. An obvious conclusion can be drawn from the work of director James Ivory - that these stereotypes are wholly incompatible.
Naomi Watts stars as Roxeanne, a pregnant American mother living in Paris, whose husband Charles-Henri wishes a divorce on account of his love for a young married Russian woman, Magda. Isabel (Kate Hudson), sister to Roxeanne, who arrives to visit from California in the same instant that Charles moves out, tries to take on a supportive role but is seduced by Charles' urbane uncle, Edgar. A continuous entanglement of bitter affairs dominates the plot of Le Divorce, with relatives on both sides amplifying the conflict. Charles-Henri's ostentatious family, for example, wish to exert their 50-50 property rights over a valuable La Tour painting belonging to Roxeanne - a move vigorously contested by Roxanne's stereotypically brash American family.
The style and content of Le Divorce is, in short, messy. Its sprawling narrative, blemished with unnecessary sub-plots, shows definite room for improvement. The genre of romantic comedy, in this particular set of circumstances, fails abysmally. The dramatic and moving nature of heartbroken Roxanne's suicide attempt simply does not fit in with Isabel's half of the story, which skips along like a light comedy. In addition, the inclusion of Magda's sadistic, gun-wielding husband simply does not complement the following scene - the magical realism of a red Hermès handbag floating across the Paris skyline towards the Centre Pompidou (a blatant and shoddy rip-off of The Red Balloon, a far superior film). Do not be fooled by the dazzling supporting cast of Le Divorce (Glenn Close, Stephen Fry, Matthew Modine, Stockard Channing et al) or by its polished production values: as a piece of cinema, it's relentlessly boring.
Naomi Watts stars as Roxeanne, a pregnant American mother living in Paris, whose husband Charles-Henri wishes a divorce on account of his love for a young married Russian woman, Magda. Isabel (Kate Hudson), sister to Roxeanne, who arrives to visit from California in the same instant that Charles moves out, tries to take on a supportive role but is seduced by Charles' urbane uncle, Edgar. A continuous entanglement of bitter affairs dominates the plot of Le Divorce, with relatives on both sides amplifying the conflict. Charles-Henri's ostentatious family, for example, wish to exert their 50-50 property rights over a valuable La Tour painting belonging to Roxeanne - a move vigorously contested by Roxanne's stereotypically brash American family.
The style and content of Le Divorce is, in short, messy. Its sprawling narrative, blemished with unnecessary sub-plots, shows definite room for improvement. The genre of romantic comedy, in this particular set of circumstances, fails abysmally. The dramatic and moving nature of heartbroken Roxanne's suicide attempt simply does not fit in with Isabel's half of the story, which skips along like a light comedy. In addition, the inclusion of Magda's sadistic, gun-wielding husband simply does not complement the following scene - the magical realism of a red Hermès handbag floating across the Paris skyline towards the Centre Pompidou (a blatant and shoddy rip-off of The Red Balloon, a far superior film). Do not be fooled by the dazzling supporting cast of Le Divorce (Glenn Close, Stephen Fry, Matthew Modine, Stockard Channing et al) or by its polished production values: as a piece of cinema, it's relentlessly boring.