Thoughtfully spirited: Blandine (Olivia Côte) and Magalie (Laure Calamy) get set to holiday. Photo / Supplied
Thoughtfully spirited: Blandine (Olivia Côte) and Magalie (Laure Calamy) get set to holiday. Photo / Supplied
Three very different women are thrown together on a Greek island to learn about themselves and each other and some key lessons for life. Sound familiar? On paper peut-être, but there are no Mamma Mia! hysterics or Shirley Valentine epiphanies here. Two Tickets to Greece is a thoughtfully scripted, well-actedand fun French coming-of-middle-age film for femmes.
Blandine (Olivia Côte) is a single mum with a serious medical job who is stuck two years in the past after her husband dumped her for a younger woman. Uptight, pathologically negative and antisocial, she reluctantly reconnects with her effervescent high school best friend Magalie. She tries to avoid it, so is horrified when her fed-up son tricks her into going on the holiday the girls once dreamed of when they were 14.
Humourless Blandine (who wears a padded vest to Greece because of the air-conditioning: “it’s sleeveless!”) is the polar opposite of the carefree, frivolous Magalie (Call My Agent’s Laure Calamy), who likes a shag and loves disco.
Magalie’s joie de vivre might be infectious, but it’s also pretty draining. “My friends say I should be a life coach – now I have no choice!” she eye rolls when it transpires Blandine has not been embracing the orgasmic opportunities of singledom.
Then, a silver-haired Kristin Scott Thomas rides up on a quad bike, speaking fluent French, and things get even better.
It’s a familiar odd-couple cliché, but plot predictabilities are outweighed by the performances. Côte is great, but with such a staid character, she doesn’t stand a chance against the luminous Calamy, who not only sings beautifully while charming everyone she meets but also prances about nude. (You might say Calamy really should call her agent and stop being typecast – but she’s still absolutely brilliant.)
Despite its bland title and the stereotyped dramatis personae of divorcées, cougars and sassy older women, Two Tickets to Greece will give you something altogether fresher, psychologically deeper and unexpectedly heartfelt.
