Two Tickets to Greece
Two old friends meet up again after decades and end up going on holiday in Marc Fitoussi’s escapist French comedy.
Although well-established, the French writer/director Marc Fitoussi is much better known in his own country than he is abroad. That is easily explained because the films that he makes tend to be of the kind that aim at popular appeal and are relatively lightweight entertainments that do well on home ground while lacking the qualities that work well in the art cinemas which would show them in other countries. Two Tickets to Greece is a work in that mould and is, I believe, the first of his films to gain a UK release – and even then it has taken some time to reach us since it dates from 2022. However, while this may be the kind of film that often gets lukewarm reviews from critics, it needs to be stressed that the right audience will find much pleasure in it and, indeed, when considered on its own terms this is a film that is much better than might have been expected.
The very nature of the story that Marc Fitoussi has concocted is indicative of the audiences who would like it best. Two Tickets to Greece is about two girls who were best friends in middle school in 1989 but then went their separate ways. The film’s main narrative begins when, having reached their forties, they meet again for the first time. Blandine Bouvier (Olivia Côte) who has become a quiet, conventional wife and mother is feeling down and depressed because her marriage has just ended in divorce. When her son, Benjamin (Alexandre Desrousseaux), proves to be unavailable to join her on a trip to Greece, one that he had arranged in order to cheer her up, he finds a replacement in that childhood friend of his mother’s, Magalie (Laure Calamy). He is unaware that their recent reunion, which he had secretly brought about by setting up a dinner for the two of them, had not gone well because Magalie had proved to be the very reverse of Blandine, a sassy lively type determined to behave as though reaching the age of forty were no reason not to live it up. Indeed, it is because Magalie is short of money and always ready for adventure that she readily accepts Benjamin’s suggestion that she should have a free holiday by taking his place. Unaware of the clash of personalities immediately apparent at the dinner, Benjamin thinks that he has been clever in setting up for the two of them a journey to the Greek island of Amorgos because as youngsters both girls had expressed the desire to go there one day due to that being the location where the film The Big Blue was shot.
The comedy that unfolds in Two Tickets to Greece takes us not only to Amorgos but to Santorini, Kerinos and Mykonos as well. Being a film about travellers visiting a glamorous foreign location, it echoes that hit film of 1989 Shirley Valentine while the idea of an escapist entertainment featuring old friends abroad was hugely popular more recently in the Exotic Marigold Hotel films. That their various experiences will eventually see these old friends drawing closer again is easy to anticipate and just what the audience want. If the tale and its setting have their own appeal to that mainstream audience who will be pleased too to be reminded of a song featured here (Candi Staton’s ‘Young Hearts Run Free’), Two Tickets to Greece also has the attraction of featuring three skilled leading players.
In addition to making films Marc Fitoussi is known for directing six episodes of the French TV version of Call My Agent! which featured Laure Calamy. Since those days Calamy has done fine dramatic work in Her Way (2020), in the outstanding Full Time (2021) and in The Origin of Evil (2022) so her role here as Magalie brings out her contrasting skills in comedy even if the screenplay occasionally renders Magalie’s approach to life less endearing than it is presumably meant to be. Nevertheless, Calamy is fine in the partnership that she has with Olivia Côte who had earlier shared the screen with her in a more banal escapist film back in 2020, that being My Donkey, My Lover & I. But if she and Côte enhance Fitoussi’s film the absolute scene stealer here is Kristin Scott Thomas in the role of Magalie’s friend Bijou who lives on Mykonos. The film is halfway through before she enters in the role of a liberated and bohemian woman who lives life on her own terms. It is no surprise that her performance has been compared with that of Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia! and Scott Thomas is certainly cast against type. But, if comedy is still largely to the fore, it is also part of the triumph of this performance that Scott Thomas is able to play with sufficient depth to enable the film to switch tone sufficiently to incorporate something deeper and more serious. Even so, viewing this film through the eyes of a critic I can see that in contrast to these scenes much of Two Tickets to Greece feels superficial. But it is also as a critic that I value so highly the skills that Kristin Scott Thomas brings to her portrayal of Bijou. And in addition, I can see that for those keen to find a film that offers ready escapism Marc Fitoussi’s movie fits the bill rather well.
Original title: Les Cyclades.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Laure Calamy, Olivia Côte, Kristin Scott Thomas, Alexandre Desrousseaux, Nicolas Bridet, Panos Koronis, Mathias Minne, Marianna Bozantzoglou, Leelou Laridan, Marie Mallia, Thodoris Smeros.
Dir Marc Fitoussi, Pro Caroline Bonmarachand and Isaac Sherry, Screenplay Marc Fitoussi, Ph Antoine Roch, Art Dir Anna Falgueres, Ed Catherine Schwartz, Music Mocky, Costumes Marite Coutard.
Avenue B Productions/Vito Films/Blonde Audiovisual Productions/Scope Pictures/France 3 Cinéma/Proximus/Canal+/Ciné+-Parkland Entertainment.
110 mins. France/Greece/Belgium. 2022. UK Rel: 17 May 2024. Cert. 15.