Rumba

Revelling in the theory that the best comedians should be seen and not heard (take a bow Jacques Tati, take a pratfall Buster Keaton), new French comedy Rumba two-steps onto our cinema screens with more style and class than the entire combined cast of Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing On Ice could ever hope to emulate. Schoolteachers Fiona (Fiona Gordon) and Dom (Dominique Abel) work in a French school, devoting their working hours to their pupils and their spare time to practising dance routines together. Disaster strikes for the pair when they narrowly avoid an attempted suicide while driving home from a competition, leaving Fiona in a full body cast and Dom minus his memory. Reuniting in hospital, it soon becomes apparent that the love they once shared has gone, at least for Dom who has forgotten Fiona, and their lives start to take a different direction. Mining even the darkest moments for grains of humour, Rumba tells its tragi-comic story in dance and occasional bursts of dialogue and song. Impressive set pieces pepper the film, whether that’s Fiona’s “leg” catching fire and destroying their house and the unravelling of her woollen dress by a group of neighbours, making the absence of the actors’ voices barely noticeable. The use of old-school film techniques and the odd flight of fantasy mean Rumba clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously, though it never turns its leads into pure figures of fun. Bold, bright and often very breezy, this is a unique film which echoes silent comedies of the past while still appealing to modern audiences.