Chatter Box Film

Exciting feature film debut from Jethro Massey, Paul & Paulette Take A Bath is a quirky offbeat and eccentric romantic comedy about two entwinned souls who like the darker side of life.

A chance meeting on a Parisian boulevard leads to a brief moment between the two individuals as they re-enact famous deaths of women through the ages. Paulette is fascinated with women who died for their transgressions and being different – from the beheading of Marie Antoinette (Paul cuts Paulette’s hair as a symbolic gesture) to a sex scandal of the late 1890s.

Directed with aplomb by the much heralded Massey, he is helped by two very game performances by the leads Marie Benati (Paulette) and Jérémie Galiana (Paul), new faces who recall Nouvelle Vague starlets transported into the modern day.

Twice there are gulps by the pair – once by Paulette after her hair is cut, once by Paul by when being playfully strangled. This bond between the two that comes about searching old wounds while avoiding new sores starts as friendship between the two and grows into something more.

The title of the film refers to the eponymous activity when the pair share secrets, this moment leads to an embrace of something more real for them both, more real than they have had in other frivolous relationships.

Wonderful production design and costumes for the pair embrace bold colours a la Umbrellas of Cherbourg or Almodovar enhances the striking tone of Benati’s facial sculpture and Galiana’s Delon like handsomeness.

This partnership between the two is reminiscent of other morbid pairings from Harold and Maude to the duo Sasha and Paul in Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person. That hidden gem of a film hit an endearing sweet spot inverting the tropes of those who are undead wanting to embrace life. In this iteration, we have two young beings wanting to embrace the spectre of death.

This connection between the two is telling and familiar, finding solace through a commonality and works as a travelogue of Parisian and later Central European landmarks. For fans of Before Sunrise and In Search of A Midnight Kiss, this is a film that embraces history and wears its historical filmic influences on its sleeve and yet it is something wholly original and pleasing.

A dual-language film of English and French, this is a film that garnered critical attention at Cannes in 2024 and it is sure to garner a cult following when released here on UK shores.

Paul and Paulette Take A Bath is released by Conic Films on 5th September.