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 In his third adaptation of a play by Britain's Alan Ayckbourn,
the lives of three couples are shaken up by the news their good
friend George Riley is ill and has just months to live.
The news rekindles old emotions, and the three women start
fighting to look after George in his last weeks and accompany
him on his last holiday, creating unexpected and tragicomic
tumult in their middle-aged, respectable relationships.
Through George's imminent death, they all seem to come alive. As
Kathryn, played by Resnais' wife Sabine Azéma, says — it is as
if George, the invisible character around which all revolves,
had a scheme in mind.
Actress Sandrine Kiberlain, who plays George's estranged wife,
told a news conference in Berlin that the French title of the
film, "Aimer, boire et chanter" (to love, drink and sing),
"reflects the message of let's live our lives to the full".
Resnais, a doyen of French cinema who found fame in the 1950s
with hits "Hiroshima mon amour" and "Night and Fog", was too ill
to make the screening in Berlin but remains true to form on
creativity.
Punctuated by graphic illustrations of the houses where the
characters live and panoramas of the English countryside, the
action takes place in an artificial, cardboard cut-out studio
world, underscoring the film's theatricality.
The characters themselves are amateur actors rehearsing scenes,
presenting the viewer with a play within a play.
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 "Alain started by telling us he wanted to make a
film that would pay homage to theater, cinema and radio, and also
comics and graphic novels," said Kiberlain.
Remaining true to Ayckbourn's script, the French film is set in the
English Midlands, challenging the viewer once again to suspend
disbelief.
"One of the keys to Alain's work is this idea of a
fiction and its power," said Hippolyte Girardot, who plays Kathryn's
husband. "It never works in terms of its realism, it functions on
the level of dream and imaginary."
Criticizing the trend towards hyper-realism in cinema with 3D and
special effects, Girardot said the actors had simply imagined they
were English, conjuring up English childhoods for themselves, eating
English food, smoking English cigarettes.
Throughout his career, Resnais has taken his cue more from
literature than Hollywood, and was known for his collaboration with
authors like Marguerite Duras and Jorge Semprún.
"Life of Riley" is one of 20 movies competing for the "Golden Bear",
the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival. More than 400 films are
screening at the Berlinale, which runs until February 16.
(Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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