No Smoking *** (1993, Sabine Azéma, Pierre Arditi) – Classic Movie Review 11,365

The 1993 French comedy film No Smoking is part two of Alain Resnais’s monumental adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn’s play cycle Intimate Exchanges (after Smoking). There are three stories but it focuses mainly on the relationship between the mild-mannered Miles Coombes (Pierre Arditi) and his aggressive, ambitious wife Rowena (Sabine Azéma).

It is a tour de force of scripting, acting (just two players in all the parts) and direction, with Resnais holding the attention for a second spell of 150 minutes with just two figures chatting on stylised sets. It won the César Award for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Writing.

But it is a bit of a marathon and endurance test at this length, and the overall purpose of the project is unclear. It is just too grandiose to be a lightweight comedy entertainment, but it is never better than a witty divertissement.

[Spoiler alert] This second half seems much darker and the slapstick has a ghoulish nightmare quality about it which reaches its peak in the comi-tragedy centring on twin sheds. One character locks herself in a garden hut for several days, only to take off with a girl on a round-Britain walk, which ends in taking refuge from a fog in a coastal shelter, before he accidentally walks off the cliff.

This is clever, bold stuff, though it would be far more effective as a film of its own with traditional filming methods. After so many variations of possible stories, the last one just stops, so there is no conclusion or climax or satisfaction other than having reached the end of a marathon.

However, we must give a huge round of applause for the show-stopping performances of the two players, Sabine Azéma and Pierre Arditi, as well as to Resnais and Ayckbourn for their wit and ingenuity. The narrator is Peter Hudson.

No Smoking is directed by Alain Resnais, runs 150 minutes, is released by Pyramide Distribution (France) and Mainline (UK), is written by Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri, and Anne Dutter and George Dutter (English translation), from the play Intimate Exchanges by Alan Ayckbourn, is shot by Renato Berta, is produced by Bruno Pesery, and is scored by John Pattison.

It is set in the village of Hutton Buscel.

Sabine Azéma was married to Alain Resnais from 1998 till his death in 2014. She appeared in numerous of his films, including Life Is a Bed of Roses (1983), L’Amour à mort (1984) and Mélo.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,365

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