This one starts in a legoland type village somewhere in Finland where very effeminate sophisticated Parisian Reuben is now the local postman. Evidently he never completed his Master’s Degree in ‘Comparative Sauna Cultures’ and for some inexplicable reason he is now married to blond Finnish schoolteacher Teemu even though there is zilch chemistry between them. On his rounds one morning Reuben ends up with a parcel bursting full of euros that he takes home causing a spat which ends with him being thrown out of the house.
Reuben takes himself off in high dudgeon to Paris to sulk with his family over the Passover holidays. He is hardly welcomed back with open arms as they all have their own issues and its very clear to see where Reuben has inherited his drama queen traits from. The very busy plot is laden with cliched gay jokes, Jewish jokes and even (tepid) jokes about Finland and they are flying fast whilst Reuben is trying to ‘find himself’ in the family home above their dry-cleaning business, the connection to his life back in the middle of nowhere seems almost to be forgotten until Teemu turns up on his doorstep.
In fairness it does have some funny moments and even though she has little to use her remarkable talents on, it does have one of Pedro Almodovar’s favourite leading ladies in the cast, Carmen Maura who plays Reuben’s mother.
★★★★★★
Labels: French, gay, romantic comedy
