Matt Walsh and Judith Godrèche Seek Passion in Indie Rom-Com ‘Under the Eiffel Tower’

Sandra Miska

Actor/comedian Matt Walsh becomes an unlikely leading man in the romantic comedy “Under the Eiffel Tower.” Walsh stars as Stuart, a Louisville, KY native who just got fired from his job selling bourbon due to his “lack of passion.” This, of course, only exacerbates his midlife crisis, and he soon crawls into a bottle. Fortunately, he has good friends, married couple Frank (David Wain) and Tillie (Michaela Watkins), who invite him along on a family vacation to France with their daughter, 24-year-old grad student Rosalind (Dylan Gelula). Desperate for rejuvenation, Stuart takes the younger woman’s playful flirting as a sign of more serious interest, and embarasses himself by proposing under  — you guessed it — the Eiffel Tower. Predictably, this does not go as swimmingly as he would have hoped.

Despite the title, the majority of “Under the Eiffel Tower” takes place not in Paris, but in the French countryside. While waiting for a flight back to the States, Stuart befriends Liam (Reid Scott), a Scottish soccer player whose professional career recently came to an end due to an injury. After some arm-twisting from his rakish new pal, Stuart agrees to hop on a train to wine country. With this pairing, the backdrop of vineyards, and the whole theme of redemption, one cannot but make the obvious comparison to “Sideways.” However, the stakes are lower here, as there isn’t a lifelong friendship on the line. And Liam doesn’t really evolve much from a one-note wastrel. Instead, the emotional core here is Stuart’s relationship with the woman who comes between them, local wine seller Louise (Judith Godrèche).

Godrèche, a French actress and filmmaker who is no stranger to English-speaking audiences — She has co-starred in American films such as “The Man in the Iron Mask” and, more recently “The Overnight” — is credited as a co-writer on “Under the Eiffel Tower,” despite having come onboard the project after director Archie Borders already had a completed screenplay.

“[Walsh and I] were asked by the director to bring whatever we could to our characters and to the story,” Godrèche explained to Entertainment Voice. “So we started working on it, and, obviously, the script did change. The characters changed a lot, but we didn’t come up with the initial story.”

Louise is a rather intriguing character, as she isn’t exactly at ease in her seemingly idyllic world. She works for Gerard (Gary Cole), the sickly owner of a vineyard, a man whom Stuart initially assumes his her “weird uncle or whatever.” While the exact nature of her relationship with Gerard isn’t clear, one thing that certain is that Louise isn’t the best wine seller and she probably would have chosen a different career under alternate life circumstances. In one of the best scenes, Stuart finally shows signs of getting his groove back, channeling Paul Giamatti as he steps in and helps her out during a tasting tour.

Godrèche, who spent many nights after long shoot days rewriting scenes with Walsh, explained how she worked to break Louise out of the mold of the stereotypical French woman.

“I had some ideas to make her less of a French woman as seen by Americans,” she recalled. “In the original script, she was really good at selling wine, and I was thinking it would be funnier if she wasn’t good at it. Instead of being this perfect woman, I thought she should have some flaws.”

With such a picturesque setting as the Loire Valley, it goes without saying that “Under the Eiffel Tower” contains plenty of beautiful locations ripe for romance. Considering that “Under the Eiffel Tower” is an indie film (with an indie budget), one might wonder how the producers secured such exquisite locations, such as the magnificent property in and around which much of the action takes place. With surprising ease, revealed Godrèche, who co-produced the project.

“Friends of mine told me that I should call the owner of the Chateau de Beauregard, who’s also the owner of the winery that makes the wine, and I called out of the blue and said, ‘This is Judith Godrèche, blah, blah, blah. I’m producing a film for the first time. We have no money. Can we shoot in your place?’ [Laughs]. He was like, ‘Of course!’ …I was very, very lucky. A lot of people did a lot of favors. It’s a film that was made with a lot of favors from French people.”

When asked about the differences between American and French filmmaking, Godrèche said, “I think that when it comes to indie movies, I think that American films and French films are probably the same. I think that when you do a Hollywood film, then you actually see the difference. It’s definitely different to do ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ than it is to do a French film. [Hollywood] is such a huge, huge machine. You really feel like you’re part of an industry.”

“I wish that in France we had films that we could just make without distribution and go sell them at a festival. We don’t have a Sundance Film Festival.”

“Under the Eiffel Tower” come to select theaters Feb. 8, and On Digital and On Demand on Feb. 12.