La reine blanche

This unpretentious romantic comedy of mores manages to mix an old-time folksy movie feel with a very adult confrontation of first love remembered and present marital status in the quintessentially French milieu of provincial France which has also been the time and place chosen by Jacques Demy (Nantes, 1960) for his magic realist story-telling ("Les Parapluies de Cherbourg", "Lola","Les Demoiselles de Rochefort"). Catherine Deneuve has never been more believable as an "ordinary housewife" and her co-stars are just as impressive and convincing. Georges Delerue's music insures that the viewer gets all dewy-eyed at all the right moments. The result is what used to be called "movie magic".