... the pleasure of watching Catherine Frot and Andre Dussollier donning once more the mantles of Prudence and Belisaire Beresford, the Nick and Nora Charles of Le Belle France albeit a Nick and Nora one generation older with grandchildren yet. I've been in love with Catherine Frot for years and I don't care who knows it, as much for her incredible range as for her drop dead gorgeousness, so that even when she played the mother from Hell in Vipere au poing she failed to alienate my affections, but let her loose on a lovable, ditzy dork as in Un Air de famille or Les Soeurs fachees and I'm gone, man, gone. In her third At Bat as Prudence Beresford she has the character down pat so that the plot - the one where the scientist has invented a world-class machine/process/drug, in this case an anti-ageing treatment that also, alas, works backwards - is immaterial, serving only as a springboard for the couple to delight us for a couple of hours with acting skills honed over a lifetime. Maybe not Cesar material but if it's pure joy you're after look no further.

"Partners In Crime" is ostensibly based on an Agatha Christie short story, but I'm going to venture a guess and say it has little to do with it, since - as far as I know - Christie never explored science fiction territory, which is the genre the story told here really belongs to. But I've never really had a problem with Christie adaptations that are far removed from the original text; I do have a problem with Christie adaptations that lack any sort of urgency, which "Partners In Crime" is guilty of. This film is more of a seriocomic study of mid-life crisis and thirst for excitement with a sci-fi angle than a "traditional" Christie mystery; the humor is subtle - often too subtle - and the pacing is extremely leisurely. However, Catherine Frot (who remains VERY attractive in her mid-50s) and André Dussollier do have an affectionate and believable chemistry as a couple, and the locations are pleasing to the eye. ** out of 4.