Run time: 115 mins

(Subtitled)

Virtual reality is taken to new heights in this winning Eternal Sunshine-esque French romance.

Daniel Auteuil plays cartoonist Victor Drumond, marooned in his sixties and gently withdrawing from an alien world of endless iPad and phone interaction. Kicked out by his wife Marianne (the eternally gorgeous Fanny Ardant) who finds him insufferably boring, he desperately reaches out to friend Antoine who runs a high-end re-enactment service, whereby a client can be transported to any era they desire and live out their fantasy life.

When offered the opportunity, Victor doesn’t hesitate, wishing to return to a smoke-filled bistro in 1974, the moment he first met Marianne. However, there are complications, as Victor finds himself falling for Margot, the actress playing young Marianne, who also happens to be Antoine’s on-again-off-again girlfriend.

Auteuil is great in the lead role, remaining sceptical of the charade but unable to resist its allure.

Writer-director Nicolas Bedos also has endless fun, packing the film with moments of joie de vivre to deliver an escapist fantasy as topical as it is touching. An immaculately constructed, achingly romantic joy, exploring both the seductive pull of nostalgia as well as the dangers of living in the past. (Research Chris Coetsee) Come for Fanny Ardant… Don’t miss.