Le Bonheur est dans le pré

Francis (Serrault) is undergoing a late-life crisis - the workers at his Paris factory are on strike, his imbecile wife Nicole (Azéma) and daughter are as insensitive as always, and his best friend Gérard (Mitchell) has misremembered his birthday - and the easiest solution seems to be a heart attack. Nope, try again. As he watches a plaintive TV show with his gawping family, his face suddenly appears accompanying a piece on a woman (Maura) looking for her long-lost husband. He's hesitant, but hey-ho, it's off to the South we go: a change of scene, good weather, food, wine, love, a new life. Thereafter we make a gentle approach-landing on to a firm ground of lower-middlebrow escapism. A well-adorned buddy movie, with a faint whiff of misogyny.