The Party’s Over! (M) – 95 minutes

A decidedly French dark comedy about the class divide, The Party’s Over involves a well to do family and their caretakers, who are at loggerheads.

Parisian lawyer Philippe Trousselard (Laurent Lafitte) and his former actress wife Laurence de Preville (Elodie Bouchez) are spending the summer at their villa. That is in the south of France.

With them is their daughter, Garance (Noee Abita), who also aspires to be an actress, and her boyfriend of four months, Mehdi El Glaoui (Sami Outalbali). 

Unlike Garance, Mehdi wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Rather, like the caretakers, who live on the estate, he comes from a modest background.

Still, he studied commercial law, graduated top of his class, and is about to take up an internship.

Before he does so, he is spending 10 days with his girlfriend, in opulent surroundings.

Philippe and, to a lesser extent, Laurence enjoy asserting their authority. They can be quite condescending.

The caretakers – Tony Azizi (Ramzy Bedia) and his wife, Nadine (Laure Calamy) – are at Philippe and Laurence’s beck and call for the three months the owners are at the villa each year.

So it is at the start of the film.

That is when Philippe prevails upon Tony for help with a backed-up sink while Tony is in the midst of celebrating his daughter Marylou’s (Mahlia Zrouki) 20^th birthday.

A series of unseemly episodes leads to a sudden rush of blood to the head for Tony, which results in a major blow up between the employers and the employees.

Long simmering tensions are exposed.

There is obstinacy on both sides and Mehdi, who is caught in the middle, tries to act as mediator.

But the stakes keep ratcheting up, so much so that The War of the Roses (1989) is given a bit of a run for its money.

This all comes about when money, pride and power collide.

The question is, how will it all end?

It is silly. It is deliberately excessive, but it is also fun – a light-hearted romp.

The Party’s Over! is all about pushing the envelope to make a point, namely being rich doesn’t make you decent.

Laurent Lafitte brings pretentiousness to Philippe Trousselard and, as such, he pulls all the right levers.

His counterpoint is the civility inherent in Sami Outalbali as Mehdi, who comes to realise just what he has walked into. 

As Garance, Noee Abita puts on a gorgeous smile and flutters her eyelashes. Garance knows that she is onto a good wicket.

Tony Azizi has been holding his tongue for far too long and one of the more surprisingly scenes comes when he doesn’t, which Ramzy Bedia plays well.

That then is the perfect entrée for Laure Calamy to weave her magic as Nadine, who is certainly no pushover.

The film is also a good looker, with the cinematography capturing the luxurious surrounds.

And prepare yourself for an unlikely twist near the end. 

There is nothing too sophisticated about The Party’s Over. Nor does it pretend to be highbrow entertainment.

Rather, director Antony Cordier delivers a pleasant enough distraction that may not reach any great heights, but is still quite amusing.

Rated M, The Party’s Over! scores a 6½ out of 10.