Review of On a Magical Night

This is fun! Maria (Chiara Mastroianni) has an eye for pretty young men and has lots of casual affairs. She can not understand why husband Richard (Benjamin Biolay) is so upset when he finds out. (In a cheeky bit of casting, director/writer Christophe Honoré has cast Mastroianni opposite her own ex-husband.) After a row, Maria moves to the hotel across the street from the couple's apartment. But rather than the hoped-for time to think, she finds the room somehow invaded first by Richard's younger self (Vincent Lacoste); then Irène (Camille Cottin), the woman Richard was in love with when he first met Maria twenty years before; then her own 'will' (Stéphane Roger) which for some reason takes the form of crooner Charles Aznavour; and finally all the young men with whom she has had flings. It isn't long before one or two of these spirits wander across the road to talk with Richard - before everyone ends up in a bar listening to Barry Manilow.

Is it a dream? A hoax? A Red Kryptonite illusion? That is probably open to the viewer's interpretation. What is definitely certain is that this is cinema not taking itself too seriously. Although there is deep talk of commitment and sustaining sexual desire in a long-lasting marriage, the viewer never has to wait for long before the next chuckle moment arrives. Mastroianni's fine line in subtle comic exasperation is nicely contrasted by Biolay's more serious performance as the cuckolded husband. One of the best films I saw at the 2019 London Film Festival.