BEDTIME STORY

By RICHARD CORLISS

GEOMETRY FOR A ROMANTIC COMedy: triangle involving a married couple and another woman. The French do this in their sleep, maybe in their dreams. Since the formula is so familiar, they know the trick is to tweak it. Remember Too Beautiful for You, where Gerard Depardieu spurns gorgeous wife Carole Bouquet for dumpy secretary Josiane Balasko? This time writing and directing as well as starring, Balasko has wrung another variation on the old gag. Husband, wife, lesbian interloper. French Twist.

Laurent (Alain Chabat), a real estate dealer, cheats on his wife Loli (Victoria Abril) but insists--men are such romantics--that she is ever faithful to him. As his mistress replies wearily, "That's probably what my husband says to his mistress about me." Loli is indeed constant, until she meets Marijo (Balasko), a butch musician. Marijo fulfills all the popular lesbian stereotypes: she has short hair, a gruff manner and a weight problem; in the kitchen she's better with wrenches than with sauces. But she also has a knack for intimacy, and that's what Loli desperately needs. A good-night kiss from Marijo, some romantic music, and eureka! Loli discovers she has a genius for sexuality. She insists on splitting her week between Marijo and Laurent--who realizes, with the grimace of surrender, that he must now pour on the charm to become his own wife's lover.

A hit in France under the title Gazon Maudit (which translates literally as Cursed Lawn--never mind!), the movie breaks the rules of farce; its characters begin as caricatures, then fill out into complex people whose openness to love surprises no one more than themselves. Brisk and sassy, French Twist gives great fun. It's a nice way to start the movie year: in bed with three genial lunatics.

--R.C.