Perfumes
Directed by Gregory Magne
★★★★

AN IRASCIBLE and temperamental perfumer and a chauffeur down on his luck become unlikely friends in this wonderfully understated comedy by Gregory Magne.

Anne Walberg, (Emmanuelle Devos) known as “The Nose,” has been in the perfume industry wilderness for the last four years when she encounters her new driver, the no-nonsense but charismatic Guillaume (Gregory Montel), who only puts up with her airs and graces and rude behaviour because he needs the job to be able to win custody of his young daughter from his ex-wife.

It might be obvious where this comedy is heading but Devos and Montel’s standout performances and their hilarious repartees as a chalk-and-cheese pair from differing social classes keep you invested.

Sniff it out. You won’t be disappointed and it will give you a whole new appreciation on smells and what they evoke.

In cinemas and Curzon Home Cinema.

Yes, God, Yes (15)
Directed by Karen Maine
★★★★

THE evils of sex and online chat rooms, along with Catholic guilt, loom large in this wonderfully funny and whip-smart religious coming-of-age teen comedy drama.

Set in the naughties, it has Catholic teenager Alice (a stunning Natalia Dyer) learning about the joys of masturbation when an innocent online chat turns racy.

At school she is taught that this is a sin and to curb the new-found sexual urges which will lead her to eternal damnation, she goes on a special four-day Catholic retreat.

There she is tested to her limits by hunky and touchy-feely team leader Chris (Wolfgang Novogratz), who seems to be flirting with her outrageously.

As a lapsed Catholic, writer-director Karen Maine’s impressive debut feature hits the satirical bullseye and shows the shortcomings and hypocrisy of the Catholic church, some of its members and its teachings.

It’s driven home by Dyer’s sublime performance as the naive and frequently confused and bemused Alice.

And if you didn’t know the difference between tossed salad and salad tossing you definitely will by the end.

Available on video on demand.

Chemical Hearts
Directed by Richard Tanne
★★★

THIS is another bitter-sweet coming-of-age teen film about the joys and heartbreak of first love, with a twist you won’t see coming.

It follow Henry Page’s (Austin Abrams) journey as he falls for new high-school student Grace (Lili Reinhart) when she begins to work on the school newspaper of which he is the editor.

She isn’t in the least bit interested as she is battling her own demons but he slowly wears her down.

The blunt and enigmatic Grace tells Henry “adults are just scared kids that were lucky enough to make it out of limbo [the teenage years] alive,” while his older sister, a hospital attendant, warns him that “heartbreak triggers the same areas of the brain as physical pain.”

Abrams and Reinhart make a compelling on-screen couple but there are more in-depth emotional layers to writer-director Richard Tanne’s romantic drama, based on Krystal Sutherland’s novel, than meets the eye.

That is what makes Chemical Hearts stand out from all its counterparts and worth watching.  

Available on Amazon Prime Video.

The One and Only Ivan (PG)
Directed by Thea Sharrock
★★★

INSPIRED by a true story, this live-action CGI hybrid tale about a 400lb silverback gorilla who learns to paint and who plans his escape from a shopping mall’s animal circus with the help of an elephant is a bitter-sweet tale of friendship and a yearning to return to the wild again.

Based on Katherine Applegate’s bestselling book and adapted for the screen by Mike White, it stars Bryan Cranston — who knocks it out of the park as the circus owner — alongside an A-list voice cast which includes Sam Rockwell as Ivan the gorilla, Angelina Jolie, Helen Mirren, Danny DeVito and Chaka Khan.

Youngsters will be captivated by Ivan and his eccentric friends including the super-cute Ruby, the baby elephant who look uncannily lifelike.

The end credits feature photos of the real Ivan who was taken to the US from central Africa after being saved from poachers and whose fascinating story is worth investigating further.

Avaialable on Disney+.

Wonders in the Suburbs
Directed by Jeanne Balibar
★★

A FEMALE mayor is elected on a trailblazing original political manifesto which sparks unforeseen problems in this French comedy of errors written and directed by Jeanne Balibar.

Emmanuelle Beart is the new mayor of Montfermeil who, with her team plans to halve unemployment in the area, introduce organised rest periods — “Naps for All” — and reverse the previous administration’s population removal policy.

Also on the agenda is the establishment an international school of languages and renaming national bank holidays to Harem Pants Day and Kilt Day, to name a few.

Of course, their implementation goes to pot when members of her team begin squabbling among themselves and undermining each other in what’s a totally bonkers political comedy full of bizarre characters and equally surreal subplots which at times are tricky to follow.

Par for the course, perhaps, in our current political landscape

Available on video on demand.