A Parisian lawyer struggles to juggle work, love and family life in this spirited French comedy. Virginie Efira plays Victoria, a single mother whose two daughters are background players in her world, as well as this film. At a drunken wedding she bumps into a former client and one-time drug dealer, Sam (Vincent Lacoste). Grateful and clearly smitten, Sam offers to work for her for free, and soon becomes the nanny rather than the law intern he was hoping for.
An amusing watch, this has a freshness and naturalism rarely found in the typically over-styled French romcom genre – one can imagine an American remake with Amy Schumer or, were this the early noughties, Katherine Heigl. The most successful scenes faintly exaggerate the restrictions of a dating working mother: Victoria meets and hosts internet dates in her bedroom while the children are in the living room next door. The least successful scenario tries to grapple with the dubious morality of our heroine representing a friend accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend.
While it’s wonderful to see a powerful working woman in a comedy onscreen, it’s her relationship battles that strike the funniest note – although the eventual romance feels like a bit of a footnote.