Friendship, trauma, and disco are all part of this charming new French comedy Two Tickets To Greece. Olivia Côte stars as Blandine, a mother struggling to find herself after a messy divorce and her son moving out. By chance, she reconnects with Magalie (Laure Calamy), a childhood friend she lost touch with. Despite Magalie being too wild for the reserved Blandine, they are pushed into their childhood dream of a holiday in Greece, where the pair get lost and confront old wounds
Holiday dramas are plentiful, particularly in European cinema, so it takes something special to stand out. In this case, it’s the actors making a familiar story feel personal. Both Calamy and Côte make their characters instantly engaging – different enough to make the odd couple comedy work, but similar enough to believe they were once friends. Magalie is a disco loving chancer who knows every blag, carries an iPod in case the DJ is boring, and loves the attention of men. One minute you want to shake her, the next you want to hug her, and the same goes for Côte, slowly opening up her posture gradually as her character comes out of her shell.
The pair’s chemistry glosses over a story that moves a bit too smoothly in the first half, before the great Kristen Scott Thomas shakes things up again as Bijou, an old friend of Magalie’s and a fellow hedonist. While it’s a supporting role, she livens up the story with comedy and a devasting twist that reminds you why she’s cinema royalty both sides of The Channel. This addition makes for a livelier second half, where all three women come into their own.
Two Tickets To Greece could have had a touch more grit, but the trade off is a holiday where you leave feeling you know the characters, and more importantly like them. In a summer of edgy blockbusters, this escapist story of friendship is just the ticket.
Two Tickets To Greece is in cinemas from 17th May