Keswick Film Club - Return of the Hero

Synopsis

After a few weeks of thought-provoking films we thought it was time for a break with a French comedy!

"While co-writer/ director Laurent Tirard and screenwriter Grégoire Vigneron have created something wholly original with 'Return of the Hero', their inspiration is clear: What if Howard Hawks adapted Jane Austen's work as a screwball comedy? And they've succeeded.
Elisabeth Beauregard has always been a fierce protector of her family, but she’s about to meet her greatest challenge yet: Captain Charles-Gregorie Neuville. Soon after he's engaged to her younger, more naive sister Pauline, he’s summoned to the frontlines of battle. Pauline writes letter after letter to her fiancé only to get nothing in return. Elisabeth, looking out for her sister who's fallen deathly ill due to the lovelorn stress, decides to start writing to Pauline as the Captain. The war ends, but judgmental Elisabeth fervently believes Neuville will be a no-show. She continues her scheme so Pauline's attentions and heart can be directed elsewhere – to sweet, shy Nicolas. Three years later, the Captain returns and whips Elisabeth, her family and the entire town into a frenzy" - Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction.

Jean Dujardin (of 'The Artist' and 'Wolf of Wall Street' fame) plays Captain Neuville as the perfect cad while Mélanie Laurent ('Inglourious Basterds') is Elisabeth, the main character here: "part of the fun is watching Laurent's barely contained glee as her character's outrageous concocted adventures enrapture audiences gathered in the Beaugrand drawing room" - Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews.