Happiness Never Comes Alone

Sacha, who plays piano in Paris nightclubs, has a life scrubbed of responsibility: no job, no plan, no ties. Then he meets Marie, divorced, extremely organised, with three children. Her ex-husband is rich and well connected. The film is not interested in the romantic comedy mould. It is interested in two systems of living colliding: it is not about Sacha maturing but about each side disturbing the other's order, and the result is uncomfortable for both. The form is glossy French comedy: Paris, jazz clubs, large apartments and music scenes. The piano passages are its best element. James Huth directed. Gad Elmaleh was among the best-known French comedians of the period, and as a musician at the piano he stands close to his own stage persona. Sophie Marceau plays Marie. Who it is for: viewers who like French romantic comedy and the pairing of Marceau and Elmaleh. Who it is not for: anyone after originality. The setup is familiar, the conflicts are predictable and the children never become more than devices in the screenplay.