Smoking/No Smoking Movie Review 1994

Two linked films director Resnais adapted from writer Alan Ayckbourn's eight-play cycle "Intimate Exchanges" (although the screenwriters have only used six stories). Azema and Arditti plays nine characters in various tableaus on marriage and affairs set at a Yorkshire school. The opening sequence of each episode provides the title tie-in, as faculty wife Celia goes onto the terrace, finds a pack of cigarettes, and decides whether or not to light up. A studio set provides all the frankly fake backdrops. Very slight and very long. French with subtitles.

Distribution

Available on VHS
Running time 285 minutes.
Originally from French.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Marriage, Adapted from a Play

Screenplay

Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnes Jaoui

Cast

Sabine Azema, Pierre Arditti

Director

Alain Resnais

Producer

October Films

Awards

Cesar 1994: Actor (Arditti), Art Dir./Set Dec., Director (Resnais), Film, Writing.