ONE STAYS ONE LEAVES: DVD

SYNOPSIS:
Daniel (Daniel Auteuil) and Alain (Pierre Arditi) are both in their mid 50s and happily married. Or were happily married. After his son by a previous marriage is injured in an accident, Daniel meets Judith (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and sparks ignite. Alain meets Farida (Aïssa Maïga) from Senegal, whom he employs at his gallery. Both Daniel and Alain have to make a decision about their respective situations - whether to stay or leave.

Review by Louise Keller:
A piano recital, a birthday cake, a wedding anniversary and an accident. That's how it begins, this poignant and insightful story about the complexity of relationships inside and out of marriage. In the sensitive hands of Claude Berri who also co-wrote the script, it's involving and often touching as we enter the world of two families, each of whose members impact also on the story.

Daniel Auteuil's Daniel is married but feels free when he looks at Charlotte Gainsbourg's Judith, who he meets in his most vulnerable moment. They bond over Perrier and embark on an affair based on trust, unbeknownst to his second wife Isabelle (Laure Duthilleul). Pierre Arditi's Alain is already involved with his young and beautiful sales assistant Farida (Aissa Maiga) but has no qualms about lying to his possessive wife Fanny (Nathalie Baye) and her suspicious sister. After all, he wants his cake and to eat it too.

The consequences of the two infidelities rebound on others including Daniel's first wife Anne-Marie (Miou-Miou), with whom he shared many laughs years ago. There's a touching moment when they recall a holiday together in New York as they sit in the car after a trip to the hospital to visit their son. Daniel's 15 year old son from his second marriage also gets involved; the crisis scene when angers ignite is one of the film's most powerful.

Auteuil is as watchable as always and he and Gainsbourg make an interesting couple. Aissa Maiga is especially appealing and watch out for an unforgettable cameo by Michaël Youn in a stage appearance wearing nothing but a fake, enviously long penis which he uses as a microphone (as well as for other effects) as he sings 'My Willy, I Love You'. Deception is tricky and full of pitfalls, but so is love and we are left to wonder throughout who will be the one to stay and the one to leave?

Published November 13, 2008