Combine odd-couple tropes, a road trip premise and the complications of recent real-life events, and the result is The Volcano, a French romantic comedy that aims for and plays in the broadest part of the entertainment spectrum. The film’s original title, Eyjafjallajökull, gives an indication of its setting and dramatic impetus, with the Icelandic landmark of the same name famed for wreaking havoc with travel plans in 2010. Here, it strands antagonistic ex-partners on their way to their daughter’s wedding, placing the pair in prime position for the standard, supposedly hilarious hijinks.
Only acrimony remains between driving instructor Alain (Dany Boon, Fly Me to the Moon) and veterinarian Valérie (Valérie Bonneton, French TV’s Desperate Parents), their meeting on a plane to Greece as unhappy as it is unplanned. When the volcanic eruption grounds their flight mid-trip, theirs becomes a shared journey by sheer necessity. Bickering and bantering, each first strives to stop the other from moving forward. Then, through desperation more than affection, they determine to make it to Cécile’s (Bérangère McNeese, La chance de ma vie) big day together, using any and every form of transport they can.
The quarrelling former lovers forced into close quarters; the caper-filled trekking by air, sea, car and foot; the slow but certain process of coming to an accord: in The Volcano, writer/director Alexandre Coffre (Borderline) and his fellow scribes Laurent Zeitoun and Yoann Gromb (Heartbreaker) paint by the numbers and play by the book. Within its familiar genres, every conceivable episodic encounter eventuates, just as every imaginable eccentric character colours their path. The outcome is evident; as arrows fly, police interfere and a born-again van driver (Denis Ménochet, Grand Central) leads them astray, the former couple will progress towards their destination and patch up their differences.
Much of The Volcano trades on the affability – and general comedic abilities – of its leads, and their easy rapport even when waging war against each other. In sketch-like scenarios filled with silliness, they stand out amid formulaic happenings; with one-note characters defined only by their overt emotions, they add energy to the obviousness. Theirs are not nuanced portrayals, nor is their transformation from enemies to friends, but Boon and Bonneton improve upon the material. Boon’s likeable lumbering has been well proven in Welcome to the Sticks and its sequel; however, it is Bonneton’s comic timing that threatens to steal the show, even as she is subjected to the usual onslaught of physical trauma that marks such slapstick efforts.
Indeed, it is the central pair that sells the mishap-laden material – as well-meaning yet well-worn as it constantly proves. Coffre directs with speed, squeezes a smattering of modest laughs out of easy gags, and favours the warm aesthetic sheen of the film’s rom-com brethren, but can’t craft his manufactured attempt at crowd pleasing into anything less ordinary. The Volcano sputters with generic themes and never threatens to explode with amusement.
Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars
The Volcano (Eyjafjallajökull)
Director: Alexandre Coffre
France, 2013, 92 mins
Gold Coast Film Festival
www.gcfilmfestival.com
3 – 13 April
Actors:
Director:
Format:
Country:
Release:
