Putting Catherine Deneuve, goddess of world cinema, in a fuzzy pink Afro wig might seem unforgivable. But by the time that happens in Emanuelle Bercot’s genial comedy, it’s obvious that taking Deneuve down a peg is the furthest thing from anyone’s mind.
Deneuve plays Bettie, a restaurant owner living with a doting mother who’s all but smothered her to death. Bettie’s married lover has abandoned her for a younger woman, precipitating a road trip that will reconnect Bettie with her alienated daughter and lonely young grandson, as well as find a way to put her in that wig.
There are so many echoes of “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” that it starts to feel like a barely disguised sequel. But those reminders, and the rather trite journey-of-self plot, are just decoration. This tender film works to remind us of how much we still love Deneuve, and succeeds in scene after scene.
Watching Bettie get her groove back, it’s easy to think that of course she still has men in their 30s chasing her. She’s Catherine Deneuve, for heaven’s sake. The joy of “On My Way” is that Deneuve’s beauty is beside the point. She remains an actress with a spell so strong she can make mere mortals feel romance is close at hand.