The Girl From Monaco

A clever genre-blender from Anne Fontaine, "The Girl From Monaco" is a romantic satire that achieves a delicate balance of motivation and risk reward or punishment on the social stage of its French Riviera town. Fabrice Luchini is Bertrand Beauvois, a nearly over-the-hill French attorney soaking up Monaco's local atmosphere while defending Edith Lasalle (played by Stephane Audran), a wealthy murderess in a high profile trial. Bertrand is surprised to find that his client's son has hired bodyguard Christophe (played by Roschdy Zem), to protect him from any outside interference during the trial. But it's when a sexy local television weather girl named Audrey (played by Louise Bourgoin) insinuates herself into Bertrand's otherwise well-ordered world that clouds of jealousy and pending doom creep across the sunny Monaco skies. Bertrand finds out the hard way about Christophe and Audrey, two lower class Monaco residents attempting to fast-track their way into the town's impossibly rich milieu. This is a shrewd film that maintains a subtle layer of suspense before releasing its narrative trap.
Rated R. 94 mins. (B) (Three Stars)