Based on a 1925 Parisian operetta, this musical farce from veteran arthouse director Alain Resnais is every bit as tedious as that description makes it sound. Hell, it's not even a case of having to be an aficionado of period songs - much of the movie's verbal playfulness will be lost on non-native speakers.
Set in a grand apartment and an extravagant bachelor's flat, Pas Sur La Bouche! (Not On The Lips!) gathers together a collection of bourgeois types: ditzy Gilberte (Sabine Azéma), her rich husband Georges (Pierre Arditi) and a young ingenue (Audrey Tautou). It then adds a US businessman (Lambert Wilson) to the mix: a guy to whom Gilberte was once secretly married in the States, and who has a phobia about kissing.
Full marks to the undubbed cast for switching between dialogue and singing with proficiency, but two hours in the company of such shallow creations proves two hours too much. A wearying experience, with the film plodding towards an inevitably happy climax.
