"Looking for Hortense reminds us of a definite shift that has taken place in regards to romantic dalliances in the comedy genre"

Since 1991 Pascal Bonitzer has been a steadfast collaborator of Jacques Rivette, the director who was credited by François Truffaut as being responsible for the French New Wave. The list of their collaborations is stellar: La Belle Noiseuse (1991), Jeanne la Pucelle I - Les Batailles and Jeanne la Pucelle II - Les prisons (1994) Secret Defense (1998), Va Savoir (2001), The Story of Marie and Julien (2003), Don’t Touch the Axe (2007) and Around a Small Mountain (2009).

Bonitzer the writer is most famous for this grand association whilst as a director he perhaps remains most famous for 2005’s Small Cuts. Looking for Hortense the latest French comedy to arrive on UK shores sees a reunion with his Small Cuts leading lady Kristin Scott Thomas, a film that is a blend of comedy, drama and romance, though predominantly intended to be viewed as the former.

Looking for Hortense reminds us of a definite shift that has taken place in regards to romantic dalliances in the comedy genre. Where once there was a reliance on formula, the pre-determined destination in which love conquers all has been successfully replaced by the acceptability of uncertainty and ambiguity; even brutal cynicism.

Bonitzer however presents a more optimistic tale of love compared to the brutally cynical depictions of the relationships at the heart of Revolutionary Road and Blue Valentine, as well as the gentler but nonetheless cynical Like Crazy. Still Looking for Hortense finds more of an equilibrium between success and disaster that extends to matters of the heart as well as family politics.

Applying the term brutal cynicism may be a convenient exaggeration, as those aforementioned films depict the fundamental cycle of life and death, in which romance is born and hence must wither and die. They depict the entirety of a single chapter, and perhaps what is mistaken for cynicism is in fact the dismissal of romantic ideas of love as something that can transcend life and death. Rather these films prefer to embrace life as a series of chapters; life a novel and not a dreamy short story.

This is the truth that interests Bonitzer and his latest film takes on the guise of a stack of collapsing dominoes through which he creates an entertaining, humorous and charming journey of cause and effect.

Looking for Hortense is not solely obsessed with the practice of tidying up the mess or rather putting everything back together again; rather it is about the reactions of its cast of characters and how they move on to an uncertain future. The scenes in Bonitzer’s film are like the pages of a book as each character learns to live with the consequences as opposed to discovering an outright remedy, permitting them to move forward rather than stand still and avoid prolonging the chapter longer than is necessary.

Storytelling is a record of multiple journeys and in Looking for Hortense Bonitzer prefers to dismiss destiny. He instead places his characters and their choices as the determining factors of how their lives will unfold. Their actions are based not on Bonitzer the writer’s decisions, but on their own independent choices. Perhaps this is Looking for Hortense’s greatest success; the absence of the writer.

Whilst the casting of Philippe Duclos may pull those of you who are familiar with French crime drama Spiral out of the film upon his appearance, continuing in the same profession as his television alter-ego, Jean-Pierre Bacri carries the film with a charm amongst a supporting cast comprising Kristin Scott Thomas.

Bacri’s Damien Hauer endears himself to us with his genuine charm, humour and strength of conviction. Or perhaps such endearment derives from a plain likeability as we watch this seemingly cursed and likeable chap thrown into awkward situations we can sympathise with, or dread should our own futures become marred by such frustrations.

Bonitzer has crafted a film that tackles the ridiculousness of cultural and social expectations as a guiding light, and the absurd definitions that blight our relationships. It is an open minded and mature piece of filmmaking even if its cast of characters do not possess the same wisdom. But then where else would the drama and comedy derive? Afterall characters sometimes need to be naïve for the benefit of our amusement; God bless them!

Looking for Hortense is a journey of uncertainty for both its lead protagonist and us the film’s audience; the film a series of dalliances, making for a pleasant picture, but one which lacks the magical sense of feeling one might find in Resnais’ Private fears in Public Places. Then again it just seems that no one other than the French can make these intimate and pleasant films and Bonitzer offers just that, an intimate and pleasant little treat.