"Cartoonist Victor (Daniel Auteuil) and psychoanalyst Marianne (Fanny Ardant) have been together for more than forty years. He has grown a little too comfortable with his old-fogey status while she still has a lust for life and a low boredom threshold. Marianne eventually throws Victor out on the street and considers it a long overdue act of liberation.
"That is the moment that Victor accepts an offer to enjoy a free experience with Time Travellers, a company run by Antoine (Guillaume Canet). In a variation on Westworld, the company uses movie sets and actors to construct elaborate fictions for wealthy clients. You can live in Nazi-era Germany, dine with Marie Antoinette or get sozzled with Ernest Hemingway. Victor chooses to spend his time in 1974, at the café where he first met Marianne.
"One of the joys of La Belle Époque is the central performance from Daniel Auteuil and the way he expresses Victor’s delight in having entered his past. The beard goes, the wardrobe improves and the twinkle returns to his eyes. The good old days have a bracing effect on Victor, especially as he starts to fall under the spell of Margot (Dora Tillier), who has been cast as the young Marianne.
"Handsomely crafted, La Belle Époque cleverly works through the complications of blurring fact and fantasy. Set to a soundtrack of pop hits from the likes of Dionne Warwick and The Monkees, the film sometimes goes for easy laughs but the skilled ensemble cast ensures that the emotions are always true and touching." - Screen International
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