Impromptu

France in the 1830s. The writer Aurore Dudevant publishes as George Sand, wears trousers, smokes cigars and asks nobody's permission. Having heard Frédéric Chopin play, she falls in love and goes after him. Chopin is shy, ill and appalled by the attention. The distance between them makes both the comedy and the drama. James Lapine refuses to make a period biography. The artists here are not monuments but people who irritate each other, get jealous and make fools of themselves. Liszt, Delacroix and Musset are on hand too, all gathered in the same country house, all talking about each other. Judy Davis plays Sand with an energy that apologises for nothing. Hugh Grant plays Chopin, Mandy Patinkin plays Musset, and Bernadette Peters plays the hostess. Who it's for: Viewers who like period comedy, artist biography without the solemnity, and Judy Davis. Who it's not for: Historical accuracy is held loosely and the characters speak in a modern register. Anyone hoping for Chopin's music will find little of it.