Potiche - 3 smiles

Watching “Potiche (Trophy Wife),” starring Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu, is like visiting old friends. They are the consummate professionals and they comport themselves with a blend of confidence and precision. Deneuve may wear the clothes of a dowdy housewife and Depardieu may assume some of the mannerisms of an anxious bureaucrat, but their charisma is evident. Suzanne Pujol (Deneuve) is a stay-at-home ‘trophy wife’ who steps in to manage the umbrella factory run by her tyrannical husband (Fabrice Luchini) after the workers go on strike and take him hostage. To everyone’s surprise, Suzanne turns out to be an intelligent, gifted leader. Things get complicated when her husbands returns to work after a period of rest. The city’s mayor Babin (Depardieu) is a former union leader and Suzanne’s ex-beau who still holds a flame for her.

Director François Ozon has dusted off a 1970s play, paying close attention to décor and costumes of that era. There are ascots and pantsuits – at one point, Deneuve even wears a red tracksuit and white Adidas with curlers tucked under a kerchief. Ozon also attempts to pay tribute to the feminist struggles of the 1970s, but he never loses sight of his goal of creating a comedy. His pacing, however, is often slow and the movie is longer than it needs to be. Nonetheless, the payoff for “Potiche” is seeing pros do great work, especially when they seem to be having so much fun. Subtitles. 3/27/11