Woody Allen's ‘Coup de Chance' Finally Getting Released in the U.S. on Friday

MPI Media Group will release Woody Allen’s 50th film as a director, “Coup de Chance,” for North American markets this coming Friday April 5th, 2024. A digital/VOD release will follow on April 12th.

As I had reported last year, “Coup de Chance” was actually picked up in November of 2023, but they waited until very recently to announce it, probably to have it coincide a little closer to its release date. Regardless, this is good news for Allen, as many believed he might not find distribution for this one due to his #MeToo controversies.

The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in early September to (mostly) positive reviews. It bears a lot of similarities to “Match Point,” but that film’s English setting has been transferred to Paris this time around.

I’ve seen “Coup de Chance”, and it’s definitely not, by any stretch, a seminal work from Allen, but it’s also, probably, his best film since 2015’s “Irrational Man,” or maybe even 2017’s “Wonder Wheel.” I was never bored. This is one darkly twisted statement from Allen — murder, romance, infidelity, and deer hunting. It’s a tightly scripted affair. There isn’t much filler to it.

In a way, it could make for an effective double bill with Allen’s similarly twisted 2005 film, “Match Point.” Both films tackled upper and lower class politics and dealt with similar themes.

The story revolves around Alain (Niels Schneider), a fiction writer, who runs into old acquaintance Fanny (Lou de Laâge) on a Parisian street. There’s some flirting. Fanny is clearly charmed. It only enhances desperation to run free from her dull marriage with possessive Jean (Melvil Poupaud), a financier whose friends describe Fanny as a “trophy wife.”

You’ve seen this before, right? Fanny decides to reconnect with the persistent Alain who gives her all of the attention Jean doesn’t. What starts off as coffee rekindling and walks in the park soon turns into an affair. Jean starts to suspect something, and hires a private detective to get to the bottom of it.

I’ll stop right there. Allen’s film is all twists from thereon in. It helps that the film is beautifully lensed by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro who uses the day light of Paris, the sumptuous colors of the fall, to immerse the viewer into the dangerous romance our two lovebirds take part in.

Much like in “Match Point,” and Allen’s far worthier 1989 classic “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” there’s class commentary infused with the unpredictable nature of life. The performances, especially from its two leads, couldn’t be any better, especially since their characters are, sadly, not that fully sketched out.

There isn’t much room for nuance either. Allen lays it on too thick with the messaging. It all culminates with a surprising climax, one that I didn’t expect to happen, but that nevertheless felt a tad too implausible for its own good. Fortunately, “Coup de Chance” is incredibly paced and playfully morose, and, despite being 88, it also won’t be Allen’s final film — he’s planning to shoot another one this summer in Italy. [B]