Film Talk: Girls just wanna have fun in Two Tickets To Greece

Having bagged a BAFTA for her sterling turn in 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral, Kristen Scott Thomas has, for the last 30 years, stood as one of the most compelling and captivating actresses representing our fair shores.

With her magnificent performance in The English Patient having justly garnered an Oscar nomination, Scott Thomas was the woman to watch during the 90s and early 00s, also starring in Mission: Impossible, Gosford Park and, of course, The Horse Whisperer.

As the new millennium went on, Queen Kristen snapped up the European Film Award for Best Actress for her turn in Philippe Claudel’s I’ve Loved You So Long, and then went on to star in a raft of other French projects including Leaving, Love Crime and Sarah’s Key.

As a new decade arrived, the parts kept coming and Scott Thomas was paired with some of the biggest talents of the moment (such as Ryan Gosling in 2013’s Only God Forgives) along with some of the industry’s greatest statesmen (need we say more than Gary Oldman and 2017’s Darkest Hour?).

Now, she stands truly revered, and this week we in the UK finally get to see her lend her talents to another French flick that was in fact made back in 2022.

With Scott Thomas starring alongside Laure Calamy and Olivia Côte, Two Tickets to Greece tells a classic tale of old pals on a pleasure trip – but will audiences enjoy being along for the ride? Boarding passes at the ready, folks – let’s do this...

TWO TICKETS TO GREECE (UK 15/ROI 15A TBC, 111 mins)

Released: May 17 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Girls wanna have fun but have forgotten how in the coming-of-middle age comedy drama Two Tickets To Greece, which gallivants through Aegean islands in the company of French actresses Olivia Cote and Laure Calamy.

Their odd couple dynamic is dialled up to ear-splitting volume.

The former portrays a shy, socially awkward divorcee, who thinks too much before she speaks and often forgets to speak at all; the latter embodies a fun-loving, outgoing chatterbox, who is the life and soul of every party with a relentless exuberance that has earnt her the nickname Tinnitus.

Mamma Mia! splashed through similarly picturesque Greek locations and there are moments in writer-director Marc Fitoussi’s undemanding, feelgood jaunt when audiences may be muttering, “Here we go again…” as his script distils familiar life lessons.

Sisterly solidarity is the name of the game.

Narrative detours to islands in the Cyclades, southeast of mainland Greece, sustain a breezy pace and introduce colourful supporting characters to act as peacemakers during inevitable bickering between the central duo.

Kristin Scott Thomas materialises astride a quad bike after an hour as a British aristocrat by birth, nickname Bijou, who rejected a life of privilege in Kent to become a nomadic jewellery maker on Mykonos with an artist lover (Panos Koronis). Her self-confessed freeloader’s casual, bohemian attire is reminiscent of Meryl Streep’s ebullient matriarch in the Abba musical.

It has been two years since electro-therapy technician Blandine (Cote) separated from her husband after he left her for a woman young enough to be a friend of their 20-year-old son Benjamin (Alexandre Desrousseaux).

The child fears his painfully uptight mother will become a recluse as he prepares to fly the nest.

Consequently, Benjamin arranges a secret reunion for his mother and her schooldays best friend, Magalie (Calamy).

In 1989, 15-year-old Blandine (Leelou Laridan) and Magalie (Marie Mallia) swooned over the soundtrack to The Big Blue and dreamt of a pilgrimage to the Greek island of Amorgos featured in the film.

Decades later, they fly to Santorini to experience the dazzling blue waters of the Aegean.

A disastrous ferry ride to Amorgos necessitates a detour to the small island of Kerinos, which has no tourist industry besides archaeological tour groups and surfers.

“I came for The Big Blue but I find myself in Point Break,” bitterly complains Blandine.

Two Tickets To Greece offers an all-inclusive package deal of gentle laughter, dewy-eyed reminiscence and empowerment.

Calamy and Cote are an appealing double act, the former wholeheartedly embracing her firecracker’s casual attitude to full frontal nudity. Fitoussi’s tour of self-doubt following a relationship breakdown and trauma does not stray from a well-trodden path but the scenery is consistently gorgeous.

Rebirth, reinvention and healing in a sun-baked crucible of civilisation.

IF (UK U/ROI PG, 104 mins)

Released: May 17 (UK & Ireland)

A Quiet Place writer-director-actor John Krasinski trades extra-terrestrials that hunt by sound for child-friendly fantastical beings in a life-affirming comedy adventure set in a world where imaginary friends (IFs) are real.

Twelve-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) cast aside childish things after the death of her mother and the girl has largely forgotten the joys of being young as she prepares for her father (Krasinski) to undergo vital heart surgery.

Living with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) in New York while her father is in hospital, Bea gatecrashes the solitude of upstairs neighbour Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who has set up a matchmaking agency for abandoned IFs.

Bea discovers she possess the same ability as Cal to see these wondrous beings, who have been abandoned by the children they once helped.

These crestfallen creations include purple furball Blue (voiced by Steve Carell), English ballet dancer Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), trench coat-clad private detective Cosmo (Christopher Meloni) and rainbow-loving ball of energy Unicorn (Emily Blunt).

To take her mind off the possibility of losing her father, Bea pledges to help Cal find new homes for the IFs. In the process, Bea heals her deep psychological wounds and she promises to find a perfect IF for a young hospital patient named Benjamin (Alan Kim).

THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 (UK 15/ROI 15A, 91 mins)

Released: May 17 (UK & Ireland)

Every film killer has an origin story, just like the victims they terrorise.

This opening salvo of a three-part psychological horror promises to join the dots between masked maniacs, who knock on front doors and ask unsuspecting residents if Tamara is home.

Chapters 2 and 3 are expected later this year and collectively chronicle events leading to the 2008 home invasion thriller The Strangers across four and a half hours.

Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and partner Gregory (Gabriel Basso) break down in a town in Oregon and the loving couple spend the night in a remote cabin.

The rustic accommodation has a certain charm until the romantic mood is interrupted by a shadowy figure on the front porch looking for their friend.

Shortly after, a trio of bloodcrazed killers, Dollface, Man In The Mask and Pin-Up Girl, break into the cabin and terrorise Maya and Gregory.

HOARD (UK 18/ROI 18 TBC, 126 mins)

Released: May 17 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Childhood trauma reverberates into anguished adolescence in an emotionally charged drama written and directed by Luna Carmoon. Ten-year-old Maria (Lily-Beau Leach) lives with her hoarder single mother, Cynthia (Hayley Squires), who scavenges bins for discarded treasures and out-of-date food.

Maria accompanies her parent on these late-night jaunts and bears witness to the devastating impact of a obsessive-compulsive disorder on their clutter-filled home. Several years later, Maria (now played by Saura Lightfoot Leon) leaves school. She is happily settled with a foster mother, Michelle (Samantha Spiro), who lavishes her with kindness and affection. Out of the blue, one of Michelle’s previous wards, late 20-something Michael (Joseph Quinn), returns for a visit.

He becomes fixated on Maria and unlocks destructive sexual desires that threaten to propel the teenager to the brink of a mental health crisis.

CATCHING FIRE: THE STORY OF ANITA PALLENBERG (UK 15/ROI 15A TBC, 115 mins)

Released: May 17 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Actress, artist and model Anita Pallenberg rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s and she is often quoted as the muse of rock band The Rolling Stones.

She was a romantic partner of founder Brian Jones for two years before raising children with guitarist Keith Richards.

Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill co-direct a feature-length documentary portrait told in the words of Pallenberg’s unpublished memoir, which was discovered in 2017 by her family after her death.

Scarlett Johansson provides the voice of Pallenberg.