Bon Voyage

PG-13

Released Feb 21, 2004

1h 54m

Comedy

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

List

77%

98 Reviews

Tomatometer

75%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

World War II has just begun, and it's clear that Paris will fall to the Germans. Actress Viviane (Isabelle Adjani) is celebrating her newest film and trying to avoid Jean-Étienne Beaufort (Gérard Depardieu), an admiring French government official. Her night takes a turn for the worse when her date has a heart attack, forcing her to ask an old boyfriend, Frédéric (Grégori Derangère), for help. Viviane later flees to Bordeaux, France, where she takes a new interest in Beaufort.

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Critics Consensus

It's froth, but stylish and giddily entertaining.

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william s

Style over substance but that's pretty good style.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Excellent film , good story, great cast. an old school film, with a lot of charm.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Audience Member

"Bon Voyage" is a delectable French period piece that aims towards good old-fashioned entertainment (literally, considering its WWII setting), but doesn't always work when trying to simply be light and enjoyable. Is it a comedy? A drama? An epic? A romance? It combines them all, but not with too much clarity. Yet, it isn't too much of a problem: with a too-good-to-be-true ensemble and plenty of visual appeal, there's plenty of fun to be had. Taking place in 1940 France, the film follows Viviane (Isabelle Adjani), a über-famous actress that gets herself into a tizzy by "accidentally" killing a man (Nicolas Vaude) that she asked to escort her home after the premiere of her new movie. She calls over her on/off again boyfriend, Frédéric (Grégori Derangère), in hopes that he'll help her dispose of the body. But when he transports the corpse by car to a nearby lake, he gets in a car wreck, which reveals Viviane's victim; Frédéric immediately is sent to prison. After all though, the film does take place in 1940. So, lucky for poor Frédéric, an air raid calls for him and his fellow inmates to be evacuated to a different location. He and the man he is handcuffed to (Yvan Attal) make good use of the commotion and end up escaping. When Frédéric attempts to meet up with Viviane again, however, it seems as though a different man (Gérard Depardieu), in fact, a government official, has stolen her love. Put simply, "Bon Voyage" is a tad too long, and has a bit too much going on -- after all, is the side-plot, which involves the transport of potentially disastrous weapons and some spy fare with the Germans completely necessary? It's hard to say, but there's much too many scrumptious qualities about "Bon Voyage" to simply write it off. It takes the setting of 1940 and locks onto it -- the costumes are impeccable, glamorous but not flashy; the sets are authentic and beautifully designed; even the soundtrack feels as though it could easily belong in any vintage film. Jean-Paul Rappeneau is a filmmaker that clearly relishes the opportunity to pay homage to the lushly melodramatic black-and-white movies that entertained audiences during wartime, and every bit of flash is wisely displayed. Yet it's the cast that truly makes "Bon Voyage" memorable. It's a lovely showcase for Adjani, who rivals the beauty of Ava Gardner or Rita Hayworth; in the film, she gets to play the glamorous, femme fatale temptresses that the latter actresses so famously embodied during their heyday. Viviane is a humorous character, however, because it's easy to see that she is somewhat of a parody of the slinky women she resembles. The rest of the cast, memorably including the rugged Depardieu in a tough-guy role and the gigi-esque Virginie Ledoyen, are excellent as well. In a film like this, an ensemble is extremely important: when the movie itself has a complex plot and has such an obviously big budget, the cast is the icing on the cake and one of the biggest reasons to watch the film in the first place. They don't disappoint whatsoever. "Bon Voyage" is a gorgeously done film, and even with a few minor flaws, it's still very easy to enjoy. Rappeneau has done a wonderful job.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A fast pace romantic film, filled with war time intrigue and suspense. With an awe inspiring cast of superstar European actors, including Isabelle Adjani,

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Audience Member

well crafted and charming period piece centres around a group of parisians right b4 german invasion in 1940 was hoping 4 chemistry between adjani & depardieu like say hepburn/tracey and though his character makes and entrance like mrs charles in 'the thin man' pic not much materializes

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

A lot of thrills, a bit of romance and some laughs in a film on a par with classics of the genre.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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Jean-Paul Rappeneau

Director

Isabelle Adjani

Viviane Denvers

Gérard Depardieu

Jean-Étienne Beaufort

Virginie Ledoyen

Camille

Yvan Attal

Raoul

Grégori Derangère

Frédéric Auger

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Antonia Quirke

London Evening Standard

This genre of all-star comedy-adventure-romance has traditionally gone down well in France and Bon Voyage has a really opulent professionalism, a merry sweep.

Dec 14, 2017

Full Review

David Denby

New Yorker

No more than a shallow, style-mad entertainment, but it never flags or loses its balance, and, despite the theatricality of the staging and the acting, it's precisely the materiality of the cinema ... that makes us devour it with pleasure.

Aug 1, 2004

Full Review

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

If you like to read subtitles or comprehend French and the beautiful people who speak it, Bon Voyage is a perfectly delightful time-killer at the movies.

Rated: 3/5

May 21, 2004

Full Review

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Although visually appealing, the movie is too cavalier and shallow for its more weighty subject matter.

Rated: C+

May 4, 2009

Full Review

Betsy Bozdech

DVDJournal.com

Has the kind of clear-cut characters, melodramatic twists, and rapid-fire dialogue of Hollywood's Golden Era -- albeit with a modern polish.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 29, 2006

Full Review

Brandon Judell

New York Theatre Wire

Are you ready for a World War II, romantic, murder-in-Act-One, escape-from-the-Nazis, French farce?

Jul 3, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

World War II has just begun, and it's clear that Paris will fall to the Germans. Actress Viviane (Isabelle Adjani) is celebrating her newest film and trying to avoid Jean-Étienne Beaufort (Gérard Depardieu), an admiring French government official. Her night takes a turn for the worse when her date has a heart attack, forcing her to ask an old boyfriend, Frédéric (Grégori Derangère), for help. Viviane later flees to Bordeaux, France, where she takes a new interest in Beaufort.

Director: Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Screenwriter: Gilles Marchand, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Julien Rappeneau, Jérôme Tonnerre
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: France 3 Cinéma, France 2 Cinema, ARP
Rating: PG-13 (Some Mild Violence)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 21, 2004, Wide
Release Date (DVD): Nov 15, 2005
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.4M
Runtime: 1h 54m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby SRD, DTS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)