Given the fact that the French are widely credited with inventing risqué, slightly 'off-colour' stories, novels, plays, movies, etc revolving around sex it seems highly improbable that Josie Balasko - a proved triple threat (writer-director-actor) several times over - was unable to generate interest in Cliente - which she wrote originally as a screenplay - until she re-wrote and published it successfully as a novel. Be that as it may Balasko admirers who revel in her multi-talents will not be disappointed in Cliente in which all three artistic hats are well and truly adorning her head. Virtually any male actor around thirty could have played the gigolo but wisely Balasko tapped one of the finest French actresses of her generation, Nathalie Baye, for the role of Eric Caravaca's principal client and it did no harm at all to have his - initially - unsuspecting wife played by Isabelle Carre - one of the finest French actresses of HER generation i.e. the generation that succeeded Baye, Huppert, etc. No one is claiming it will wind up on a Ten Best Films Of All Time list but it is, nevertheless, a fine example of commercial film making at the highest level.
Review of A French Gigolo
