Green Card, written and directed by Peter Weir - 8 out of 10

Green Card, written and directed by Peter Weir

 8 out of 10

Peter Weir is the “author „of some phenomenal masterpieces, some of which have become classics and landmarks in cinematic history:

The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, Gallipoli and especially The Truman Show and Dead Poets Society

At the same time, before becoming a citizen of Putin’s Russia and starting down an incredible downward path, Gerard Depardieu gave the world astonishing performances in chefs d’oeuvre like:

Get out Your Handkerchiefs, My American Uncle, Loulou, the Last Metro, Danton, Jean de Florette, Under the Sun of Satan, Camille Claudel and many other wonderful motion pictures.

The other star of this comedy, Andie MacDowell, is equally glorious, performing in other sublime, exceptional films lifted by this immensely talented artist:

The Player, The Object of Beauty, Groundhog Day – one of the best comedies ever, in the top ten anyway – Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Muse and very early on, the stupendous Sex, Lies and Videotape

With such a splendid team, the Green Card cannot fail and indeed, in spite of the lukewarm reception of the critics and audiences, this comedy is delivering, for it is amusing, enchanting and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Script.

Gerard Depardieu plays Georges, a talented composer, who has to work as a waiter in New York and who wants to get the Green Card.

Meanwhile, Bronte aka the sublime Andie MacDowell is thrilled at the prospect of getting a hothouse where she would study and enjoy the plants that are her calling and inspiration.

For the Green card and the hothouse to become reality, Georges and Bronte plan to and get married, after which they carry on with their lives, the woman enjoying a relationship with the rather arrogant, Trump-like and therefore obnoxious Phil.

As they are having dinner one night, Bronte observes that the waiter approaching them is…her husband, who tries to be mirthful, asking her if he is to address her as miss or missus, pretending not to know her.

However, soon after this encounter, the Immigration Bureau – whatever the agency that deports the Mexicans so much loved by the Donald Clown is called, contacts the woman.

An emergency alarm is sounded, for if they find the truth about the arranged, false marriage, Georges would be sent to France and his fake wife would face legal charges and lose the hothouse.

The French man comes to stay in the apartment, where the other neighbors think he has just returned from Africa – he cooks meals, indicates what needs to be avoided in the supermarket and what is to be acquired, when they meet Lauren, a very good friend of Bronte.

The latter has not informed her friends of her marital status, so there is an awkward, very comic scene where there are conflicting explanations on why the foreigner is sharing a flat with his friend- that he states that “he does not fuck”…in his own words.

Lauren is so interested in the French man, so attractive, elegant, eccentric, European, especially now that it is clear there is nothing between him and her friend, that she invites Bronte to a peaty given by her mother, where she could convince the older woman to give her the trees she so covets.

At the party, Bronte comes alone, ordering her flat mate to stay home, not answer the phone or the door, but Lauren brings the French composer, who is invited to play the piano, refuses, but then  shocks the audience with a very modern, bizarre sounding piece, after which he charms them with something more palatable.

When the two people from the Immigration services arrive at the apartment, we have a hilarious scene, where the couple tries to explain and improvise the moment when they first met, with packages and instant attraction, when the phone rings and Georges is left without support.

He makes the first mistake when he refers to his spouse as Betty, only to be corrected by the “inspector”, who knows the name Bronte and then says he wants to use the bathroom…

The replica of the French man who is a guest in the apartment – actually at that stage he had only arrived – is “what for?” and then he says he would show the way, confused and trying hard to guess…

The first door e opens is a storage room, from where a broom nearly falls on his head, the second door leads to an apartment, which he explains they had to redecorate and finally he finds the right room.

Although it is not one of the best works of any of the three legends involved in this project, it is charming, amusing and an endearing tale, perhaps indicated to forget about the viciousness of people like Trump and his fervent supporters.