Paris Can Wait

"I can't remember the last time Michael and I played hooky," says Anne (Diane Lane). "Everyone has to have a wife to be happy," says Jacques (Arnaud Viard). In Eleanor Coppola's effervescent narrative feature debut, Anne is playing hooky, but with Jacques, not her movie producer husband Michael (Alec Baldwin), on a road trip through France from Cannes to Paris. Bachelor Jacques' seemingly innocent offer of a ride evolves into a full-press charm offensive as he tries to woo the woman he nicknames Brûlée with roses, side excursions, and every kind of gastronomical indulgence, alternately amusing and vexing her. Lane is luminous and Viard playfully rakish. Together they are a delight in this breezy comedy that celebrates transitory romance and the glories of France. Gorgeously lensed, Coppola's delicious first feature will have you packing your bags for your own Provence idyll. Or at least booking a table at your favorite French restaurant. (Mill Valley Film Festival)