I disagree with the review that called this a lame sex farce...I first became aware of this movie while watching Siskel and Ebert who referred to it as one of their favorite foreign films of the year. I thought it was a light hearted, typical French Comedy. I think the reviewer fails to understand that the typical French Comedy is either based on mistaken identity, or a mistiming problem or a combination of both.
The French seem to have honed this genre to a fine art. Take for example the Dinner de Cons which does both, timing problems and mistaken identity. There are a few exceptions such as Ripoux, or My New Partner but this is pretty much what to expect from a French Comedy.
In the Gift, the first mistaken identity is the woman on the train. The hero who is retiring from the bank is given an expensive call girl for the weekend to accompany him on his last business trip to Venice...he does not know she is a professional and he believes she is attracted to him...thereafter there are series of timing errors and other mistaken identifications which leads to his wife coming to Venice, his son, his boss, etc. while he is hob knobing with shieks and tycoons...
No one is hurt, everyone comes out ahead and it is a fun movie...I saw in the recommendation of Siskel and Ebert and wasn't sorry.
The French seem to have honed this genre to a fine art. Take for example the Dinner de Cons which does both, timing problems and mistaken identity. There are a few exceptions such as Ripoux, or My New Partner but this is pretty much what to expect from a French Comedy.
In the Gift, the first mistaken identity is the woman on the train. The hero who is retiring from the bank is given an expensive call girl for the weekend to accompany him on his last business trip to Venice...he does not know she is a professional and he believes she is attracted to him...thereafter there are series of timing errors and other mistaken identifications which leads to his wife coming to Venice, his son, his boss, etc. while he is hob knobing with shieks and tycoons...
No one is hurt, everyone comes out ahead and it is a fun movie...I saw in the recommendation of Siskel and Ebert and wasn't sorry.