Life of Riley (2014 film)
| Life of Riley | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Alain Resnais |
| Produced by | Jean-Louis Livi |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on |
Life of Riley by Alan Ayckbourn |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Mark Snow |
| Cinematography | Dominique Bouilleret |
| Edited by | Hervé de Luze |
| Distributed by | Le Pacte |
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Release date
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Running time
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108 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Budget | $7.3 million |
| Box office | $4.7 million |
Life of Riley (French: Aimer, boire et chanter) is a 2014 French comedy-drama film directed by Alain Resnais in his final feature film before his death. Adapted from the play Life of Riley by Alan Ayckbourn, the film had its premiere in the competition section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, just three weeks before Resnais died, where it won the Alfred Bauer Prize.
In Yorkshire, three couples--Kathryn and Colin, Tamara and Jack, Monica and Simeon--are shattered by the news that their mutual friend George Riley is fatally ill and has only a few months left. Thinking how best to help him, they invite him to join their amateur dramatic group, but rehearsals bring their past histories to the surface. When George decides to have a last holiday in Tenerife, each of the women wants to accompany him, and their partners are in consternation.
Resnais said that he was drawn to Ayckbourn's play Life of Riley by its portrayal of a group of characters who are constantly mistaken about the behaviour and motives of the others and about their own; it questions whether people really match the descriptions which others give of them. Resnais also liked the challenge of Ayckbourn's device of having all the real action take place offstage with characters speaking about things which the audience never sees.
For the third film in succession, Resnais (using his writer's pseudonym of Alex Reval) worked with the writer/director Laurent Herbiet on the screenplay of Aimer, boire et chanter, remaining faithful to the text of Ayckbourn's play (except for some shortening) and preserving its English setting in Yorkshire. He then asked the playwright Jean-Marie Besset, whom he knew for other adaptations of English dramatists, to write the French dialogue with his own rhythms and phrasing.
In choosing four of his cast with whom he had previously worked (Sabine Azéma, André Dussollier, Hippolyte Girardot, and Michel Vuillermoz), Resnais was conscious of assigning them roles in this film which would allow them to give performances distinctly different from what they had done before. Caroline Silhol had worked once for Resnais many years earlier, and Sandrine Kiberlain was the only complete newcomer to his team. Most of his actors also had experience in productions of Ayckbourn's plays.
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