THE STORY – American photographer Paul strikes up a will-they-or-won’t-they relationship with a morbid young woman he meets in Paris.
THE CAST – Marie Benatti, Jerémie Galiana, Gilles Graveleau, Laurence Vassiere, James Gerard & Laura Bourdeau
THE TEAM – Jethro Massey (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 109 Minutes
Written and directed by French–British filmmaker Jethro Massey, this charmingly quirky Paris-based romantic comedy-drama—premiering in Critics Week at the 2024 Venice Film Festival—has an achingly Gallic sense of coolness that could propel it to cult status with a prevailing wind. To that end, it has echoes of other cult favorites, from “Jules et Jim” to “Harold & Maude” and “Before Sunset.” It’s surely no coincidence that at least two appear on the director’s current Letterboxd favorites.
The film begins with a terrific meet-cute, as twenty-something American photographer Paul (Jerémie Galiana) spots Paulette (Marie Benatti) on a Paris bridge, doing a re-enactment of Marie Antoinette’s execution as a sort of private ritual. Paul takes her picture – arguably violating her privacy in the process, but the film doesn’t go there – and the pair spark an immediate connection. This is cemented with an erotically charged exchange whereby Paul tells Paulette that the executioners cut off Marie Antoinette’s hair before they guillotined her, and Paulette asks Paul to cut off her long, flowing black locks right there and then. The ensuing plot, such as it is, charts the pair’s will-they-or-won’t-they relationship as they visit various famous crime scenes in Paris and embark on an impromptu road trip together. Paul, for his part, is clearly smitten with Paulette, but she seems less keen, in part because she’s already in a relationship with Juliette (Margot Joseph), a Marilyn Monroe impersonator.
Massey’s script has a lot of fun painting a detailed picture of Paulette and her various morbid obsessions; indeed, if you’re a gloomy 20-something, you may fall in love with her as much as Paul does. Highlights include the fact that she carries around a picture of Stalin when he was young (“Isn’t he gorgeous? I want to have young Stalin’s babies”) and how her penchant for recreating famous French death scenes perfectly dovetails with Paul’s photography skills.
That shared morbidity essentially lends a blackly comic element to the general “Before Sunset” vibe of the film, as the pair wander around Paris, asking each other questions like, “Would you prefer to shoot someone or be shot?” Occasionally, Paul provides eloquent narration for their story, describing her obsession by saying, “She liked to climb into history and immerse herself in the horrors of humanity.”
When the conversation inevitably turns to the exact nature of Paul and Paulette’s relationship, the script offers some intriguing observations about love. Paul astutely notes, “I think ‘I love you’ isn’t a statement; it’s a question—what it really means is, do you love me?”
Similarly, one of the most interesting elements of the film is the way it undercuts our expectations for this kind of romantic drama; for example, Paulette’s initial refusal to talk about her family leads the audience to expect some dark, possibly traumatic incident that has driven a rift between her and her parents. So, when we finally meet them, the reality comes as a surprise and is, in its way, both blackly comical and tinged with sadness.
A film like this stands or falls on the spark between the two leads, and, thankfully, Galiana and Benatti have chemistry to burn. In addition, both actors deliver terrific performances; Galiana (who looks a lot like Jeremy Allen White) lends Paul an air of bewitched passivity that works well, while Benatti gives Paulette a memorably mercurial edge, by turns morbidly melancholic and impulsively passionate. She’s also a relatable mess of contradictions: “Don’t put me on a pedestal,” she implores before literally posing for Paul’s photographs on a de facto pedestal in one of the film’s best sequences.
On that same note, Massey, like Paul, has a photographer’s eye for a great shot, and the film is packed with several memorable images, particularly the scenes where Benatti perfectly recreates the poses of various statues. Similarly, Massey orchestrates several enjoyably offbeat sequences, whether it’s the darkly comic events of their visit to Paulette’s parents or the titular moment where Paul and Paulette do, indeed, take a bath.
Ultimately, though, “Paul & Paulette Take a Bath” may not be to everyone’s tastes. This may be a cult movie waiting to happen, particularly if you have an affinity for adorably cool Gallic romance. Here’s hoping it finds the audience it deserves. It has a great soundtrack, too.
