ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

SIR ALAN AYCKBOURN has written more than seventy plays and is easily Britain's most popular playwright. No theatre season is complete without one of his works in the programme, as a venue like the Pitlochry Festival Theatre has discovered to its benefit.

Veteran French director Alain Resnais has been a devoted fan of Ayckbourn for more than thirty years, so it seems entirely fitting that he should be the one to bring Ayckbourn's ‘Private Fears In Public Places’ to the big screen.

Translated into French and transferred from London to a wintry Paris, the piece still works a treat, especially for those who savour the civilised delights of witty dialogue and warm humanity over the guilty pleasures of action-packed Summer blockbusters.

Six characters form the heart of the film, all of them united in some way by a sense of loneliness that they are struggling to overcome. Andre Dussollier is estate agent Thierry who lives with his sister Gaelle (Isabel Carre) and tries to charm his way into the affections of his pious secretary Charlotte (Sabine Azema).

Thierry's most troublesome client is Nicole (Laura Morante), who is drifting away from her fiance Dan (Lambert Wilson), a drinker who confides his worries to sympathetic bar tender Lionel (Pierre Arditi).

‘Private Fears’ traces the unexpected connections between the characters, the secret hopes and gnawing worries. Beautifully performed by the stellar cast, it retains the intimacy of the theatre within the sweep of something much more cinematic. It is a film that requires a little patience but repays any effort with a graceful excursion into the complex workings of the human heart.

Selected national release

Director: Alain Resnais
Stars: Sabine Azema, Isabelle Carre, Laura Morante, Pierre Arditi, Andre Dussollier, Lambert Wilson
Screenwriter: Jean-Michel Ribes, from the play by Alan Ayckbourn
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 126 mins
Country: France/Italy
Year: 2006

© Allan Hunter, 2007