French Twist

Director: Josiane Balasko
(1995)

A bored housewife who uncovers that her seemingly perfect husband is actually scoring more than Shaft, finds herself drawn to a strong-willed lesbian with a heart of gold (director Josiane Balasko, obviously having a ball, and managing to get the girl). In order to teach her husband a lesson, she moves her lover into the home with her and divides the week in half, leaving her husband to foam at the mouth with jealousy on weekends as she bedroom hops back to the master suite and Balasko. Humorous sex farce which was given a much more wholesome name for its American release (the original title was a crude term applied for lesbian sex), and definitely intriguing love triangle however at times a bit unbalanced by the characters who never seem more than one dimensional (save for Balasko) and the housewife comes off as a selfish tease. A bit disturbing that when two women and a man are together it’s a comedy whereas when two men and a woman are together it’s usually either Jules and Jim or, to cite a more contemporary example, A Home at the End of the World.