Themes: Foibles of Marriage, Actor's Life, Filmmaking
Main Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal, Terence Stamp, Noemie Lvovsky, Laurent Bateau, Ludivine Sagnier, Keith Allen, Lionel Abelanski
Release Year: 2001
Country: FR
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Actor Yvan Attal follows up on his 1997 directorial debut of I've Got a Woman with this wry romantic comedy about a regular guy dealing with his wife's fame and career. Yvan (Attal) is a youngish sports writer who, through some improbable luck, finds himself happily married to the beautiful Charlotte (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a fantastically popular movie actress. All is going swimmingly for Yvan until a stranger plants the seeds of jealousy and doubt in his mind over his wife and her libertine profession. Meanwhile, Charlotte is in London, starring in a movie with a very seductive and sophisticated Terence Stamp. Soon misunderstandings pile upon misunderstanding until Yvan's marriage is on the verge of collapse. Can he keep his marriage together? This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Review
Yvan Attal's Ma femme est une actrice starts out a lively, frothy affair that manages to charm from minute one. Charlotte Gainsbourg -- who is in real life married to Attal -- is likeable and attractive as a character that is clearly modeled on herself, while Attal is convincing as an everyday Joe struggling with male insecurity and jealousy. Attal sets up some great comic scenes, particularly when a bore relentlessly prods Yvan with questions about his wife's offscreen sex life. Unfortunately, the film stumbles by the third act. As the film shifts into a more sober register, its appealing lightness grows leaden. While the film's outcome is obvious to all but the most obtuse viewer an hour into the work, the conclusion takes a while to wind its way to the end. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
My Wife is an Actress (Orig. Ma Femme est une actrice) is a French Romantic Comedy/Drama film starring real life couple Yvan Attal and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Attal plays a journalist who becomes obsessively jealous when his actress wife gets a part in a movie with an attractive co-star. Attal also wrote and directed the film. The film stars Terence Stamp among others.
The film was released on July 12, 2002 to 7 theaters at #46 and grossed $49,204 in the opening weekend. It's lifetime domestic grossing is $1,121,233 while $4,048,205 accounted for foreign grosses accrues for a total of $5,169,438.[1]
