Green Card

French musician George Faure (Depardieu) needs a green card to work in America; New York horticulturist Brontë Parrish (MacDowell) is after an apartment with greenhouse available only to a married couple. So they undergo a marriage of convenience, which turns out to be anything but when the authorities decide to investigate. After months apart, flamboyant George and uptight Brontë must reunite in order to memorise a fictionalised life together... Rarely did New York look so exotic and entrancing; Weir's signature is evident in the driving beat of the opening musical sequence and in the lush splendours of Brontë's greenhouse. Weir's first romantic comedy boasts a central relationship which is tentative and hopeful, a mood beautifully realised by Depardieu (venturing into new territory with a major English-speaking role). Complemented by the refined MacDowell, his gracious, generous performance is never dominating, and their exchanges offer unexpected pleasures. In terms of the genre's conventions, Weir likens this film to 'a light meal'. It's one to savour.