3 reviews:

Like Bertolucci's Besieged, The Secret Laughter of Women examines a cross-cultural romance among expats, this time in the south of France. It's an engaging romance, well-filmed, with good performances and lots of intriguing themes in its margins. It also has a nicely light feel to it - moments of comedy and insight that keep things interesting and entertaining ... if not terribly realistic.

Nimi (Long) is a young single mother from Nigeria and her family is desperate to hook her up with the priest (Bakare) at the local Anglican church. The Nigerian community has very strong bonds, maintaining their cultural heritage and viewing the white man as satan. So they're all rather upset when Nimi's sparky 7-year-old son Sammy (Roberts) starts spending time with Matthew (Firth), who writes the action-comic Saracen, Sammy's hero. Soon a flash of attraction develops between Matthew and Nimi, but how can they cross the cultural divide, Nimi's engagement and Matthew's marriage?

Yes, the film does gloss over the rough edges of its story - it doesn't really have any teeth. The Nigerian subculture is very colourful and quirky, Matthew's marriage to Jenny (Goodall) is conveniently open and wobbly, Nimi's difficult past is only barely described, and even the hint of tragedy is pretty tame and at odds with the film's feel-good atmosphere. But the likeable, talented cast keeps things charming, the complex setting is quite interesting (although there's never any sense that this is happening in France) and, well, sometimes it's just nice to sit back and enjoy a rather undemanding love story. [Source]

And a fairly good review in The Empire (December 1999)
/.../ Fresh from his cracking turn as the dastardly villain in Shakespeare in Love, Colin Firth must have had enough of grimy England and decided that a brief sojourn to the idyllic French countryside was the perfect antidote - otherwise his appearance in this slight, dull, if undeniably picturesque romance is somewhat inexplicable. /.../ Despite the sumptuous Gallic countryside, some competent filmmaking and good intentions, it's a bit turgid. Long convincingly loses her American accent, but often looks as if she is concentrating more on that than creating an emotional character. Proceedings would be unbearable if it weren't for Firth, whose witty, charismatic performance is a welcome respite from everyone else. The scenes between him and Roberts in particular provide some much-needed light, entertaining banter. The movie fails to introduce anything vaguely challenging about cultural differences - it's saying white and black are different, but love will see you through. Been there, done that. This isn't helped by the fact that Long never persuasively expresses how Nimi feels about her situation; she doesn't love the vicar, but what is her relationship with Matthew really based on? This indecision induces fury and apathy, further increasing one's ambivalence towards her character. [Empire UK, December 1999]

And from a not so good review in Total Film....
/.../ Schwabach's feature debut is a brightly coloured yet pedestrian love story, which meanders along until its crudely made climax. The fairytale relationship between Nimi and Matthew follows a disappointingly predictable trajectory, with Firth giving an anaemic performance in a poorly written role. For a more perceptive cross-cultural romance rent My Son The Fanatic instead. [Total Film, UK November 1999]

Click here to see a online video snippet from the film. [Lot's of laughing women but no Colin!]