THE TROUBLE WITH YOU/ EN LIBERTE!

France, 2018, 108 minutes, Colour.
Adele Haenel, Pio Marmai, Audrey Tautou, Damien Bonnard, Vincent Elbaz, Octave Bussuet.
Directed by Pierre Salvadori.

This is a quirky French action-comedy designed for French sensitivities. Others might find it a bit much.

Throughout the film, a policewoman, Yvonne, Adele Haenel, tells her young son fantasy stories about the exploits of his policeman father. The son is engrossed. However, her husband has been killed in action eight years earlier and she perpetuates his memory. He is honoured by the city, a statue, speeches…

However, she discovers that her husband was a corrupt policeman, involved in setups, especially a jewellery robbery where an innocent man, Antoine, is targeted and sent to prison. He is played by Pio Marmai – and is released from jail, somewhat bewildered, going home to his devoted wife, Audrey Tautou, arriving a day early, taking her by surprise and she has to get him to repeat his arrival at the house. She tries to cope with his return but he has been scarred by prison, immediately does a hold up to rob a vendor of cigarettes, builds up to a harsh jewel store robbery.

In the meantime, Yvonne is upset by what has happened to Antoine and reaches out to help him, he becoming dependent on her, she becoming devoted to him. She finally makes a decision to don a mask, as he has, and to confront him at the jewel robbery, revealing who she is, but then helping him with taking the jewels. He is reunited to his with his wife. Yvonne goes to jail.

When she gets out, she teams up again with the policeman who was devoted to her all along, Damien Bonnard, and, while she tells stories to her son, the myths about his father are exploded.

This is a quirky fantasy rather than real life – and won various awards and was nominated for an even greater number of awards, very popular in France.