Éric Toledano

(On Cable TV, December 2022) There is something fundamentally compelling in movie narratives structured around a big event—something that requires the efforts of dozens of people that all have to work at peak competence in order to pull it off. You can borrow the ticking-clock nature of a live event to structure the screenplay, throw everyone in a pressure cooker to make their personalities emerge, and even throw in some traditional spectacle if the event calls for it. So it is that Le sens de la fête revolves around an expensive high-society French wedding, an event organized with precision by a wedding planner/caterer with a small army of specialists under his command. Much of the first act of the film consists in introducing the characters and the various pressures that are going to be exploited later on. Then, of course, the event starts and everything goes from bad to worse—even as the characters work their damnedest to prevent any of the rising chaos from being visible to the guests. On paper, Le sens de la fête sounds like a can’t-miss proposition—and since it’s helmed by writers-directors Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache (of Intouchables fame), there’s a reasonable presumption that it can’t miss. But the result isn’t quite the home run we may have expected: for one thing, a lot of characters here are unpleasant with nary a redeeming quality. The lead character himself (played with occasional panache by Jean-Pierre Bacri) is introduced in a scene that, while funny, shows his mean, petty, mocking streak. Then there’s the idea of a high-society wedding—the kind of prodigious waste of resources in the service of privileged moneyed elites: the film doesn’t even come close to questioning that kind of excess. A more serious charge can be made that the film constantly underplays its hand. Despite some effective set-ups, the result is less funny, less outrageous, and less satisfying than we may have expected. The ending isn’t particularly climactic, and everything ends as if this was another episode of a longer series rather than a significant event for most characters. The promising elements are wasted (such as an intriguing performance from Eye Haïdara), the elements are played without energy and even the wilder moments feel all too tame. Far from being an event, Le sens de la fête feels like a dud. I actually watched it twice—halfway convinced that I had missed something the first time. I did like it slightly better the second time, but still not enough to recommend.