Bon Voyage (2004)
80%RT Audience Score: 73%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
9 wins & 19 nominations total
Bon Voyage is a delightful and entertaining romp through World War II-era France, complete with murder, Nazis, and a dash of romance. The film’s all-star cast brings a theatricality to the proceedings that is perfectly balanced by the materiality of the cinema, making for a rollicking adventure yarn with a Hitchcockian flavour. While some may find the movie too cavalier and shallow for its weighty subject matter, it’s hard not to be swept up in the ingeniously plotted story and the interesting and believable characters that populate it. Overall, Bon Voyage is a stylish and enjoyable addition to the genre of all-star comedy-adventure-romance that has traditionally gone down well in France.
Bon Voyage is like a French version of Ocean’s Eleven, but with more romance and adventure. The all-star cast brings their A-game to this stylish and entertaining film. It’s a fun ride that keeps you on the edge of your seat with its twists and turns. If you’re in the mood for a World War II-era farce with a touch of Hitchcock, then Bon Voyage is the perfect movie for you. Just make sure you brush up on your French or don’t mind reading subtitles!
Production Company(ies)
Canal+ España Canal+ La Fabrique 2
Distributor
Sony Pictures Classics
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Kecskemét, Hungary
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for some sexuality
Year of Release
2005
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital SDDS
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 54m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:France
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Feb 21, 2004 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 15, 2005
Genre(s)
Comedy/Drama
Keyword(s)
Worldwide gross: $14,339,171
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $21,852,658
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,684
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 2,383,060
US/Canada gross: $7,739,049
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $11,794,182
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,567
US/Canada opening weekend: $122,214
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $186,252
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,687
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $18,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $27,431,700
Production budget ranking: 1,206
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $14,771,970
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$20,351,013
ROI to date (est.): -48%
ROI ranking: 1,681
Elsa Lanchester – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, The Monster’s Mate
Colin Clive – Dr. Henry Frankenstein
Valerie Hobson – Elizabeth Frankenstein
O.P. Heggie – Hermit
Una O’Connor – Minnie
Director(s)
Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Writer(s)
Gilles Marchand, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Julien Rappeneau, Jérôme Tonnerre
Producer(s)
Laurent Pétin, Michèle Pétin
Film Festivals
Berlin
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
9 wins & 19 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (98) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (75) | Rotten (23)
This genre of all-star comedy-adventure-romance has traditionally gone down well in France and Bon Voyage has a really opulent professionalism, a merry sweep.
December 14, 2017
Antonia Quirke
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
No more than a shallow, style-mad entertainment, but it never flags or loses its balance, and, despite the theatricality of the staging and the acting, it’s precisely the materiality of the cinema … that makes us devour it with pleasure.
August 1, 2004
David Denby
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
If you like to read subtitles or comprehend French and the beautiful people who speak it, Bon Voyage is a perfectly delightful time-killer at the movies.
May 21, 2004 | Rating: 3/5
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
Handsomely staged, ingeniously plotted and played with evident enjoyment, this is mainstream arthouse at its most entertaining.
May 14, 2004 | Rating: 4/5
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Not only does the plot have the required twists and the action keep us at the edge of our seats, but the story is populated with interesting and believable characters.
May 13, 2004 | Rating: 4/5
Richard Nilsen
Arizona Republic
TOP CRITIC
It’s a rollicking adventure yarn with a stellar cast and an engaging Hitchcockian flavour.
May 11, 2004 | Rating: 3/5
Neil Smith
BBC.com
TOP CRITIC
Although visually appealing, the movie is too cavalier and shallow for its more weighty subject matter.
May 4, 2009 | Rating: C+
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Has the kind of clear-cut characters, melodramatic twists, and rapid-fire dialogue of Hollywood’s Golden Era — albeit with a modern polish.
October 29, 2006 | Rating: 3/4
Betsy Bozdech
DVDJournal.com
Are you ready for a World War II, romantic, murder-in-Act-One, escape-from-the-Nazis, French farce?
July 3, 2005
Brandon Judell
New York Theatre Wire
This is one nutty, but enjoyable movie.
February 6, 2005 | Rating: B
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
Bon Voyage has much to commend it – but by the time it is over, you will be more likely to bid it a relieved ‘adieu’ than a dewy-eyed ‘au revoir’.
January 15, 2005
Anton Bitel
Movie Gazette
A nonstop, peripatetic, neo Hitchcockian farce…captures the chaos of a government in ruin.
September 26, 2004 | Rating: 9/10
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com…
Plot
1938. Julia Lambert (Annette Bening) and Michael Gosselyn (Jeremy Irons) are the royal couple of the London theater scene, Julia, an actress, and Michael, a former actor, who took over running the theater and its troupe after the death of their mentor, Jimmy Langton (Sir Michael Gambon). Jimmy is still constantly with Julia in spirit as she navigates through life. Besides their work, Julia and Michael lead largely separate lives, they, long ago having stopped a sexual relationship. Julia of late has been feeling disenchanted with her life, she not wanting to admit it’s because she is approaching middle age. Her disenchantments manifests itself in wanting Michael to close their current production early so that she can recharge her juices, something he is reluctant to do if only for not wanting to let the theater sit empty. What Julia ends up doing instead is embarking on an affair with Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans), an adoring young American who is young enough to be her son. As Julia and Tom’s relationship progresses, the more she falls in love with him and becomes dependent upon him for her happiness. But as she finds out that Tom is not as innocent and shy as he first made himself to seem, she may learn that Tom cannot be that direct conduit to happiness and fulfillment at this stage in her life. However, she may find an avenue through Tom that may truly re-energize her for herself.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
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