Movie is about a very successful concert pianist, very well respected in his field, who is also an unabashed woman chaser. He cannot help but chase after any beautiful young co-ed who happens to capture his attention. Yet the man is not a cad by any means. He loves his wife, he loves his kids, he even has a great deal of affection for his ex-wife, and yet he cannot keep himself from constantly chasing after, and I mean completely throwing himself into his pursuit of whatever young woman happens to catch his eye. I should add that women are far from the only things he throws himself into the pursuit of, The man seems to be in a constant state of motion, forever making plans, and then pulling out of them at the drop of a hat because something more exciting came along. There's a running joke that the movie opens on and keeps coming back to where the man has just seemingly forgotten or abandoned plans to take his current mistress out to a ski vacation, the movie opens with her coming off of a train and asking the conductor if he's seen this man and when she gets a no lugs her skis off the train and around with her for at least half of the movie while she tries to track him down. Its a pretty good visual reminder of how frequently this man changes his mind and his plans often at the expense of those immediately around him.
Clearly the man is heading for a reckoning of sorts, and in the back half of the film, he certainly ends up getting it as he heedlessly falls head over heels in love with a much younger woman yet again and is disheartened to find out how badly out of shape he is (she's an avid jogger and he tries desperately to take it up just to be able to chat with her) and how he's almost zero competition for the more strapping in shape men the younger woman's age. He also gradually comes to realize that his wife with whom he is absolute in love with to be sure, has been thinking of carrying on her own string of affairs similar to him, and he has to gradually realize that his actions while almost consistently done without any malice or conscious thought really do affect the people in his life whom he actually does care about. Its his ex-wife who has to point that out to him a couple of times, before it finally sinks in coming back to his own home and seeing his current wife about to go out with a lawyer and having to shake the guy's hand before they go out.
I might not be selling this movie well, but its all done in a rather light-heart-ed style. The key to all of this aside from the constant motion is that Jean Rochefort never comes across as slimy or hateful or as a heartless bastard, but rather he comes across as more of an overgrown puppy who has to learn to slow down and appreciate what he has lest he lost it for good. Its a tricky tone to pull off, because you're supposed to feel sympathy for the guy after all and there are plenty of people out there who won't just because of how mindless he is of the people in his life, but I thought the movie worked very well specifically because of the light heart-ed and largely comedic tone. Its more of a screwball comedy than something meant to be taken seriously, but his change of heart in the last half hour is no less dramatic because of the lightness that came before. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Clearly the man is heading for a reckoning of sorts, and in the back half of the film, he certainly ends up getting it as he heedlessly falls head over heels in love with a much younger woman yet again and is disheartened to find out how badly out of shape he is (she's an avid jogger and he tries desperately to take it up just to be able to chat with her) and how he's almost zero competition for the more strapping in shape men the younger woman's age. He also gradually comes to realize that his wife with whom he is absolute in love with to be sure, has been thinking of carrying on her own string of affairs similar to him, and he has to gradually realize that his actions while almost consistently done without any malice or conscious thought really do affect the people in his life whom he actually does care about. Its his ex-wife who has to point that out to him a couple of times, before it finally sinks in coming back to his own home and seeing his current wife about to go out with a lawyer and having to shake the guy's hand before they go out.
I might not be selling this movie well, but its all done in a rather light-heart-ed style. The key to all of this aside from the constant motion is that Jean Rochefort never comes across as slimy or hateful or as a heartless bastard, but rather he comes across as more of an overgrown puppy who has to learn to slow down and appreciate what he has lest he lost it for good. Its a tricky tone to pull off, because you're supposed to feel sympathy for the guy after all and there are plenty of people out there who won't just because of how mindless he is of the people in his life, but I thought the movie worked very well specifically because of the light heart-ed and largely comedic tone. Its more of a screwball comedy than something meant to be taken seriously, but his change of heart in the last half hour is no less dramatic because of the lightness that came before. I enjoyed it quite a bit.