by MALCOLM FRASER and MARK SLUTSKY

Les Bronzés 3-amis pour la vie

Les Bronzés 3 has origins quite unlike those of any other film. Back in the ’70s, a French theatrical troupe called Splendid spent three years hosting Club Med variety shows, then wrote a satirical play based on their experiences. This play was then adapted into the original 1978 Les Bronzés, which was massively successful in France. After a quickie sequel the following year, the troupe went their separate ways. Now they’re back, along with original director Patrice Leconte (who’s since directed Monsieur Hire and L’Homme du train, among other films).

This chapter in the series finds the titular gang, a group of wealthy but troubled baby boomers, reunited for a resort vacation. When broadly drawn hijinks ensue, it’s like a cross between Les Invasions barbares and Revenge of the Nerds II. Bernard (Gérard Jugnot) blows a gasket when his son comes out of the closet, and spends the rest of the movie drooling, falling into swimming pools and acting retarded. Gigi (Marie-Anne Chazel) has huge fake boobs and draws cutesy paintings of dogs with boners. Jean-Claude (Michel Blanc) sports a succession of ever more ridiculous wigs... and so on.

There’s some drama as well, but how you feel about it most likely depends on how sympathetic you are towards the boomer generation and their self-involved travails. Ultimately, the film is good-natured fun, with an authentic camaraderie among the cast. But it’s unlikely to appeal beyond the existing Bronzés fan base—and those with an anthropological interest in ageing Gallic Lotharios. (Malcolm Fraser)

Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy

First released in 1979 with a running time of four hours, Graham Coleman’s documentary has recently been digitally restored and condensed down to “just” two hours and 14 minutes. The film reverently chronicles the faith and practices of the exiled Tibetan community, that has made its home in Dharamsala, India, since 1959.

It’s divided, as the title suggests, into three sections. The first focuses on the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader and head of state for the government-in-exile. We see him blessing pilgrims, naming babies and speaking on his religion and the political situation. The second part of the film follows monks as they prepare and perform “A Beautiful Ornament,” an intricate Buddhist ritual, and the third observes the community’s ritual response to death.

Tibet is extremely slow-moving and in parts quite hypnotic. The world of the monks is beautifully filmed and the soundtrack, mostly comprised of chanting and natural sounds, is affecting. But it is a difficult film. Spoken narration is abandoned in the last two-thirds of the film, replaced by wordy subtitles that don’t so much explain as expound on Buddhist theology. Sentences like, “In contemplative absorption, the monumental nightmare created by the ego can be revealed, and destroyed with the sword of penetrating insight... and the immense pervasiveness of suffering can be recognized and pacified by resounding compassion,” aren’t particularly easy to read as subtitles, let alone contemplate. The faithful, and anyone intensely interested in Tibetan Buddhism, will probably be entranced, but others may find it hard to follow. (Mark Slutsky)

Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy and Les Bronzés 3: Amis pour la vie open Friday, June 23

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