Rent An Autumn Tale (1998)

A lovely old town, a Renault 4 and vineyards - An Autumn Tale review by DF

This is a 'romantic-comedy’; nothing more and nothing less. It is very french and, perhaps because of its year, the stereotypes do stand out. There is the idyllic sunny french countryside, a lovely old town, a Renault 4 and vineyards. The characters, as well, fit the stereotype bill. The two main characters are fairly successful women with grown up families; one a wine maker and the other owns a bookshop. Isabelle, played very nicely by Marie Riviere, initiates a scheme to source a husband for her widowed friend Magali (Beatrice Romand) involving using the newspaper personal ads section. At the same time the 'very liberated' girlfriend of Magali’s son is plotting to match her erstwhile lover (yes, another french movie standard, a lecturer-student relationship) with Magali.  A wedding sets the scene for Magali to meet her would be suitors and various twists and turns throw Magali into a bit of a tizz. The newspaper ad candidate is quite a nice guy and the lecturer… well, a bit of a lecher. So, who might steal Magali’s heart?? I suppose in its day Autumn Tale may have seemed smart and cool but nowadays it is just about pleasantly entertaining and I once did own a Renault 4. By the way, the french language dialogue is very accessible and might be useful if you happen to be learning the language.