My Wife Is An Actress starts off witty and sophisticated and you want to love it -- but filmmaker Yvan Attal quickly writes himself into a corner.

Attal, who wrote and directed the film, also co-stars in it with Charlotte Gainsbourg, and there's a story that goes with this. The two, both actors, are married to each other in real life.

And My Wife Is An Actress is a romantic comedy about a man who is married to an actress. Get the picture?

My Wife Is An Actress begins with a male character introducing himself. His name is Yvan, he's a sports writer, he lives in Paris. "There are 10,000 actresses in Paris," he narrates. "And all of them are wacko."

As a sports writer, declares our Yvan, his chances of meeting an actress are 12-1. But he does. And they marry. His wife, Charlotte, is wildly famous in France. Most of the story is about Yvan's response to those who are thrilled to even catch sight of his wife. The fans, the requests for autographs, the interruptions. The more Yvan learns about his wife's job, the more jealous he becomes. There are some very funny scenes in all of this -- the police stop him for speeding, for example, while she is in the car, and the besotted traffic cop asks for her identification rather than his. And lets them off.

By the time Charlotte gets cast in a British film and with a co-star regarded as a huge heartthrob (Terence Stamp), Yvan's character has become so petty and annoying that it derails the movie. Anyone would shed such a jealous cling-on of a husband.

Prior to that, however, My Wife Is An Actress has plenty to like. There's an engaging subplot about Yvan's sister, her pregnancy, her non-Jewish husband and their endless spats about circumcision. There are many visual games about what is real and what is not in movie-making, lots of in-jokes about the entertainment world, a sequence in which cast and crew in a film all appear nude, and then there is Terence Stamp -- a clever bit of casting -- acting pretentious and insecure and very funny.

What a pity that Attal, as star, writer and director, created a shallow role for himself. My Wife Is An Actress could have been a funny, incisive look at marriage, but it winds up, courtesy of his character, sliding into slapstick.

Although ultimately disappointing, the film was nominated for a Cesar Award this year, and has been a hit at several film festivals. Chacun a son gout, you might say.

(This film is rated AA)

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