Just Retired, French Film Festival, Dominion

Marilou (MIchèle Larocqe) and Philippe (Thierry Lhermitte) are a sixty-something middle class couple finally able to take their retirement and live out their dream of moving to Portugal.  Whereas their grown up children see on-demand babysitters, especially when their daughter separated from her useless husband.  And suddenly the dream becomes a lot more difficult to realise.  Will they get away to the life they've longed for, or are family ties too strong?

Played very much for laughs, the film relies heavily on the chemistry between the two leads, although Judith Magre is a real scene stealer as Philippe's eccentric mother.  The result is a very funny farce, but lacking any real depth or meaning.

Prior to the main feature a short by the same director was screened.  Burqa City is a comedy based on the premise that a man could lose his wife in the shops and return home, unwittingly, with another.  When he goes in search of the woman he's lost he meets numerous obstacles, not least from the 'new' wife who's glad to get away from her own tyrannical spouse.  There are some very funny scenes, not least the burqa-clad identity parade, and elements of slapstick from the silent movie era.  Simple, but very effective.  Brave too, as the director has had death threats over this lovely piece of absurdity.