French star Jean Dujardin created a global army of fans with his Oscar-winning performance in the 2011 smash The Artist – fans who wondered what he might do next. After cameos in The Wolf of Wall Street and Monuments Men, the answer seemed to be to show up for various middling films. Here is the latest, a French remake of an Argentinian comedy called Corazón de León. He plays Alexandre, a rich, handsome and brilliant architect who falls for beautiful lawyer Diane (Virginie Efira) after finding the mobile phone that she’d left behind in a restaurant after a blazing row with her obnoxious ex, Bruno, played by actor and noted director Cédric Kahn. But Alexandre is a person of restricted height, just 4ft 5in, which causes all sorts of bittersweet hilarity in their relationship.
Alexandre’s diminutive appearance is created through digital effects. Dujardin does his best; he has charisma and suavity and plays the role’s poignancy to the hilt. But it’s more silly than funny, and audiences can be forgiven for wondering if an actor of restricted growth should have been cast. I personally wish that Dujardin could make a third movie in the funny spy spoof series OSS 117, maybe reuniting him with Bérénice Bejo, his co-star from the first in that franchise.
