\And Now Ladies and Gentlemen"" proves that Jeremy Irons can still get through a two-hour movie with a debonair attitude and even a bit of class.
The film starts with a simple and humorous burglary that Valentin Valentin, Irons, pulls off with enough makeup to make his long face hide beneath a few well-placed wrinkles. Valentin makes off with a bit of dust behind his motorcycle and a young clerk, Allesandra Martines, as a hostage.
The clerk fades away as the film focuses on a far more complex female lead, Jane Lester, Patricia Kaas. Lester, a struggling jazz and lounge singer, deals with blackouts and a failed relationship while Valentin ditches his young clerk.
Eventually, Lester winds up in a Moroccan lounge, crooning away about lost loves and broken hearts. Meanwhile, Valentin suffers a blackout of his own on a sailing tour in the Mediterranean Sea and wakes up on his way to Morocco. It is obvious at this point that Valentin and Lester will meet.
Director Claude Lelouch crafts both Valentin and Lester as afflicted travelers searching for spare time and unable to find it. Valentin is too busy stealing precious jewels while Lester's schedule taps her strength. The two require some solace, and it seems natural that they'll find it with each other.
Despite the expectation that Lester and Valentin will fall instantly in love, the film does not allow romantic fireworks to get in the way of nervousness and solitude. Initially, the two share embarrassed stares and clipped conversations. Their first meeting smolders and seems to die before anything can happen.
Yet the ensuing encounters have Lester and Valentin coming to each other's rescue. Valentin's jewel-thieving past catches up with him, while Lester is nearly taken advantage of because she is a single, young woman.
When the two finally reach out to each other, they seek the tomb of Lalla Chafia, a healing relic surrounded by Moroccan mysticism.
Irons and Kaas make an awkward, but convincing, couple. Neither comes off as too confident around the other, though they shine in a cafe conversation where both fill in the other's blackout-induced amnesia.
Overall, ""And Now Ladies and Gentlemen"" is an impressive film that never wanders too far from its main characters. Irons and Kaas succeed as Valentin and Lester because their amnesia is never complete. Kaas has a wide-eyed wonderment about her, while Irons keeps his pretentiousness even when he cannot recall exactly how to do it.
