The Singer review

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

An ageing crooner makes a play for a young single mother in this elegant vehicle for Gerard Depardieu, immaculately cast as second-rate lounge singer Alain, a man who is content to spend his dotage warbling old favourites to pensioners in the dance halls of Clermont-Ferrand. When he meets pretty estate agent Marion (Cécile De France), it looks like she’ll end up as just another notch on his bedpost. Alain wants more than a one night stand, though, instigating a May-to-December romance that reinvigorates him both emotionally and professionally. Drab in places and far too long for its own good, Xavier Giannoli’s film could have done with fewer songs and more action. Thank goodness for Depardieu, then, who brings such Gallic gusto and zesty joie de vivre to his role that one can only sit back and applaud.

More info

Available platformsMovie
Less

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, New Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Jack Shepherd. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.