BICYCLING WITH MOLIERE is one of those meta-films about actors playing actors. The story sees an actor who has found fame but not satisfaction by playing a doctor on TV try to stage an adaptation of Moliere's La Misanthrope. To do so he wants to recruit an old acting friend, who has retired to the Ile de Rhe and, ironically, become a misanthrope. The two immediately square off: who will play the lead and how should they play it? With one week to convince each other, the actors also find themselves exploring the island, bonding with an Italian woman going through a bitter divorce and trying to give acting lessons to a girl who stars in pornos. The jokes aren't terribly funny - it does help if you know the text - but there's a lot of pleasure to be taken in watching the interplay between superb actors like Lambert and Luchini as they explore the text, their friendship and the island. It's cultured and intelligent in a way that most films aren't, with moments of sublime beauty. The only jarring note is the ending which, although appropriate to the subject, feels unnecessarily cruel.
Review of Bicycling with Molière
