Post Coitum (1998)

POST COITUM goes down easy enough.  Brigitte Rouan stars, directs, 
and co-wrote this predictably torrid tale of a forty-something wife 
who lusts, loves, and loses all after an extended affair with, what 
else?, a strapping young stud.  Though the plot offers precious few 
surprises, the sex is good 'n' steamy.  (That is, once you get used 
to greasy Boris Terral as the boyfriend.)  There's also a couple of 
intermittenly interesting subplots, one of which involves the hus-
band's involvement in a crime-of-passion murder trial.  (Keep an 
eye on that carving fork!)  The bulk of this French film, however, 
plays like, well, an extramarital procedural.  No surprises, but no 
punches pulled, either.  (Nice depiction of the dangers of smoking 
in bed, BTW, and a world more realistic than that trapped-in-the-
burning-house bit in the latest LETHAL WEAPON.)  With Patrick Ches-
nais, Nils Tavernier, and Jean-Louis Richard, who also had a hand 
in the screenplay.  Kudos, too, to the make-up artists, who make 
Ms. Rouan's character appear to age some twenty years after things 
go south.  With English subtitles.  (Not Rated/97 min.)

Grade: B 

Copyright 1998 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies as MOVIE HELL: In Brief