Le Week-End

A middle-aged English couple (Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan) celebrates their wedding anniversary in Paris, hoping to recapture the excitement of their long-ago honeymoon. But the weekend proves to be a mixed bag — the food is grand, but the hotel they booked is "too beige," and the fissures in their long relationship make the journey with them. Roger Michell's dramedy, written by Hanif Kureishi, straddles the line between charming and painful to watch. Longevity is both the strength and the undoing of the couple, as the sharp script veers from the easy companionship the two share to the long-simmering grievances and disappointments that erupt. Things come to a head at a painfully funny dinner party hosted by a long-ago American friend (Jeff Goldblum) the pair serendipitously encounters on the street. Viewers will smile and cringe, but it is always a pleasure to watch these two acting pros tackle the bittersweet stuff of everyday melodrama.