Film Review: COUP DE CHANCE (2023): Woody Allen’s Fantastic New Film is Perfectly Acted, Funny, Sophisticated and Clever

Coup de Chance Review

Coup de Chance (2023) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Lou de Laâge, Niels Schneider, Melvil Poupaud, Valérie Lemercier, Anna Laik, Yannick Choirat, Guillaume de Tonquédec, William Nadylam, Elsa Zylberstein, Arnaud Viard, Jeanne Bournaud, Anne Loiret, Sara Martins, Samantha Fuller and Emilie Incerti-Formentini.

Woody Allen has crafted his most mature film in years with the intelligent, smart and thought-provoking drama, Coup de Chance. Lou de Laâge is absolutely wonderful in the film’s leading role as Fanny, a married woman torn between two men. She is seemingly ghosted by the man she is having an affair with, Alain (Niels Schneider) as the movie’s main story kicks into gear. Or maybe, it’s that Fanny’s suspicious husband, Jean (Melvil Poupaud) has done something sinister to Alain. Allen always keeps the audience in the loop as to what’s going on with the story line but there are some moments where one can’t help but wonder where the picture is ultimately headed. Coup de Chance is very entertaining and it’s wonderful getting lost in its mysterious plot which starts out as a romance and ends up suspenseful and clever beyond a reasonable doubt.

As the film opens the married Fanny connects with Alain, an old school mate who was formerly a young journalist and is now a writer by trade. Alain walks Fanny to her job which is an auctioneer-type of gig. Fanny thinks her marriage is solid but the movie lets us in on the fact that one of Jean’s primary business partners disappeared without a trace some time ago. Was it an alien abduction, a suicide, a murder or what? Early on, the audience can suspect that maybe Jean earned his lavish lifestyle in a not-so honest way. In short order, Alain and Fanny enter into a torrid affair but Jean soon becomes abreast of it unbeknownst to Fanny.

Jean hires a detective and then some crooked hit men to make Alain disappear. It’s not fair to give away this film’s secrets but the audience is pretty much treated to a definitive answer of whether Alain is murdered by these shady characters or not. What happens after that involves Fanny’s belief that Alain ghosted her and used her to fulfill his immature fantasies and move on. However, Fanny’s mom, Camille (the great Valérie Lemercier), who reads detective novels, suspects that something more unusual is going on when she researches the history of Jean’s past regarding the business partner who mysteriously disappeared.

The beauty of Coup de Chance is that it always keeps the audience wondering which way the plot will turn next. This is one of Allen’s best screenplays in years. While the ending involves a key character trying to do something wicked to another character, Allen’s script turns the tables on everything and flips the story upside down and the audience will enjoy the results immensely.

Lou de Laâge is beautiful and perfectly cast. Fanny has a wardrobe that is extravagant thanks to Jean’s wealth and Fanny wears an assortment of high heel shoes throughout the picture. She’s elegant and so is de Laâge in a performance that makes us both respect her and like her. When Alain supposedly packs up and leaves her, the audience will genuinely feel Fanny’s loss even though Fanny moves on with her life because she trusts her husband. But should she? That is the million dollar question.

Schneider has the appeal of an every man type of artist. He’s a novelist who’s working on his latest book and the location of his manuscript will help Fanny discover the secrets behind the film’s multi-faceted story line. Poupaud’s Jean seems like the perfect husband on the surface from the beginning but we, as viewers, question whether or not he is too good to be true. It turns out he is obsessed with Fanny and will do anything to keep her as his wife. A trophy wife, if you will. Poupaud’s performance is a great one and the conniving ways of his character are believable as he tries to manipulate Fanny throughout the film.

The real surprise is the performance of Valérie Lemercier who plays the concerned mom (who takes her medication on a regular basis) to a tee. She steals the movie whenever she’s on screen and is the center of the movie’s plot development. Her choices drive the movie forward to a very satisfying conclusion. Camille sides with Jean initially then switches sides to root for her daughter. After all, Fanny had an affair for a reason. She must have really loved Alain. The fact that Camille changes her opinion of Jean to be there for her daughter proves what a good mother she is. The mom is the character who makes this movie so interesting beyond the basic initial love story that is driven by the affair and the eventual disappearance of Alain.

Woody Allen has been through a lot as a filmmaker. Without getting into his personal dilemmas, Coup de Chance reminds us what a great writer and director Allen has been throughout the years. Allen is back at the top of his game with a movie that is going to be a crowd-pleaser for fans who have stood by him and continue to embrace his artistry. While the characters and performances in Coup de Chance are the main highlights, it often feels there is a little bit of Allen, himself, in most of the characters found throughout. They don’t make smart movies like this new Allen picture too much anymore. And that kinda makes me sad.

Rating: 9/10

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