Four Lovers movie review & film summary (2012)

In Paris, we meet Rachel (Marina Fois), a designer of jewelry, and husband Franck (Roschdy Zem), who gives expert shiatsu massages and is writing a book titled Feng Shui for Couples. The book will explain why the bed has to face south and the cash register north, unless I have them mixed up. Their jewelry line needs help with its website, and they call in Vincent (Nicolas Duvauchelle), a software expert. As Vincent leans above Rachel at her keyboard, they feel unexpectedly strong erotic currents. Haven't we all sometimes felt that grateful for computer advice?

Not long after, the two couples, also including Vincent's wife, Teri (Elodie Bouchez), meet for dinner. Teri was an Olympic gymnast for France and now sits on the floor because her back has been giving her some trouble. Franck offers her a back massage, which begins with his fingers pressing and counting off each vertebrae while he names them, and when they reach the femur, Teri is feeling a lot better all over. They kiss. Now both couples are in play, and they decide to begin trading partners.

Why? Why is not a word you should bring with you to this movie. Pourquoi pas? Is it possible for two couples to swap mates without jealousy? I doubt it. The men are the problem. When a husband is assured by his wife that he satisfies her just as much as the other man, I submit to you there's not a husband on earth capable of believing that. Women are more trusting, because sex is not the dominant theme in their life from age 13 to decrepitude.

All four people are attractive, although Vincent has too many tattoos for my taste. He has a word in large letters running from one shoulder blade to the other, in an unreadable typeface he must have found on the web. My advice: stick to Helvetica. The four lovers become best friends, while effortlessly raising three children. Can this idyll last forever? No. One afternoon while they're making love, Franck gets Teri to help him shift her bed closer to the window for feng-shui reasons. They forget the time, and when Vincent returns home unexpectedly, he is annoyed, not to find them in bed together, but to find the bed has been moved. That's going too far.