Prends la route: A dusty bit of French charm

Is it worth the watch?

If you're into those light, breezy French comedies from the thirties that feel like they were filmed inside a dusty velvet theater, you’ll probably get a kick out of Prends la route. It’s not breaking any new ground, and if you hate old-fashioned romantic tropes or dialogue that feels a bit stagey, you’re going to be checking your watch about twenty minutes in.

Jacques is the kind of guy who thinks he’s smarter than he is. He’s running from an arranged marriage like it’s a prison sentence, only to stumble right into the arms of the person he's supposed to be marrying anyway. It’s the oldest trick in the book, really.

Small details that stuck

There’s this moment where Jacques is just driving, looking all stressed and dramatic, and the background scenery looks like it was painted by someone who had never actually seen a tree before. It’s charming in that very specific, low-budget way. You can almost see the wires pulling the plot together.

The chemistry between the leads is fine, I guess. It’s polite. It’s very 1936. Don’t expect any sparks that’ll set your screen on fire, but there’s a certain sweetness to how they bicker on the road. It reminds me a bit of the lightness you find in A Cup of Kindness, even if they aren't trying to do the same things at all.

• The clothes are honestly the best part.
• The pacing is a bit like a Sunday drive—sometimes it stops for no reason at all.
• Jacques Pills has this permanent look of mild confusion that I found oddly relatable.

I found myself thinking about how much easier life was when you could just "elope" and skip the wedding planning. The movie doesn't really dwell on the logic of it, and honestly, why should it? It’s a comedy of errors, not a lecture.

Some of the side characters pop in and out so fast you’ll wonder if they were just there to fill the frame. There's this one guy in the background of the café scene who keeps adjusting his hat every time the camera cuts back to him. I probably spent too long watching him instead of listening to the dialogue. That's on me, though. 🤷‍♂️

Ultimately—wait, I promised not to use that word—I mean, at the end of the day, it's just a light snack of a movie. It’s not going to change your life. It won't even change your weekend. But if you want to sit back and watch people get themselves into avoidable trouble for an hour or so, you could do a lot worse than this.

It’s not quite as weird as Alraune, obviously, but it has its own quiet personality. Just don't go in expecting a masterpiece. It's just a movie, and sometimes that's enough.