There's something almost cloyingly twee about 'Venus Beauty Institute', a romantic drama constructed around a series of encounters between the staff of a Paris beauty salon and their clients. The problem is not so much with the individual vignette, which are generally well observed and acted, but rather in the underpinning notion that all life can be neatly sampled through such a prism, each set-piece topped and tailed by the ghastly sound generated each time the shops's doors are opened. There's even an early role for Audrey Tautou, which provides one clue as to the tone of the film. However, the movie is definitely a cut above the likes of 'Bridget Jones' Diary', principally because of the fine performance of Nathalie Baye in the central role. She plays a subtly jaundiced forty-something, and imbues the film with a touching realism absent from generic chick-lit adaptations. There's little real plot that can't be foreseen, but thanks to Baye (and the understated direction of Tonie Marshall), this is a more interesting movie than most in its genre.
Review of Venus Beauty Institute
