In-Theater Release of the Week 
Wuthering Heights
(Warner Bros)
In Emerald Fennell’s latest pseudo-provocation, Emily Bronte’s classic novel has been transformed into an often risible and limp romance that drags along for more than two hours: if Margot Robbie (as Cathy) and Jacob Elordi (as Heathcliff) remain watchable, it’s due more to their movie-star magnetism than Fennell’s labored direction and soggy writing. The kids playing the star-crossed couple as youths— Charlotte Mellington and Owen Cooper—are quite natural and might have come across better in a less pretentious context, but unfortunately we’re stuck with Fennell’s ugly visuals, choppy editing, on-the-nose symbolism and a score that’s not so much played as smeared over every frame.
Film Series of the Week
Rendez-Vous With French Cinema (Film at Lincoln Center)
(Music Box Films; opens April 3)
This popular series of new French films returns for its 31st year at the Walter Reade Theater in Manhattan. For opening night, there’s prolific director François Ozon’s latest, a B&W adaptation of the classic Albert Camus novel about Meursault, a nihilistic young French man in Algiers, who kills a local man in cold blood and stoically faces the consequences. Although Ozon follows Camus’ plot closely, there’s a bloodlessness, so to speak, to his filmmaking, as if he’s mimicking the protagonist’s distance from others, including Marie, the willing young woman he’s sleeping with. Benjamin Voisin, typecast as Meursault, is almost too inscrutable; his opposite number, Rebecca Marder, invests Marie with pathos, sympathy and humanity.
Two Pianos
(Kino Lorber; opens May 1)
Iconoclastic director Arnaud Desplechin—whose My Sex Life and A Christmas Tale are remarkable portraits of messy relationships—returns with another skewered tale of screw-ups: classical pianist Mathias returns to his hometown Lyon from Japan, where he’s been teaching, to perform with his mentor, Elena. Butting heads with her during rehearsals, he finds himself drawn back into the life of his ex, Claude, whose husband has just died. Mathias befriends her young son, who looks strongly like him. Desplechin revels in throwing these characters into highly emotional moments to navigate, and if he sometimes veers into melodramatic territory—Mathias feints when he sees Claude upon his return—his observations are deeply felt, as are the performances by François Civil (Mathias), Charlotte Rampling (Elena) and Nadia Tereszkiewicz (Claude).
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
(Universal)
In the second sequel to the surprisingly successful 2013 heist movie, the group of illusionists called the Four Horsemen rounds up new recruits to help with their latest caper: going up against the ruthless head of a diamond company, Veronika Vanderberg, who’s also a money launderer. Rosamund Pike is deliciously evil as Veronika, but the large cast of Horsemen, old and new—Jessie Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman and an always welcome Lizzy Kaplan alongside newcomers Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa and Ariana Greenblatt —are interchangeably bland, even though they try hard to be clever. Despite its far-flung locations, Ruben Fleischer’s crime flick is quite familiar and monotonous. The Blu-ray image looks fine; extras include featurettes and deleted and extended scenes, along with a director’s commentary.
The Time It Takes
(Distrib Films)
Francesca Comencini’s film is a touching if occasionally saccharine reminiscence about growing up the daughter of Luigi Comencini, one of the most successful filmmakers during Italy’s cinematic golden age. Francesca dramatizes life with a famous father as something that was simultaneously wondrous and strange, culminating in her drug addiction before straightening herself out and becoming a filmmaker in her own right. There are delightful moments on the set of Luigi’s films, and the splendid performances of Fabrizio Gifuni (Luigi), Anna Mangiocavallo (young Francesca) and Romana Maggiora Vergano (adult Francesca) help smooth over the film’s sentimental lapses.
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