Retro has been the new black in cinema and TV for quite some time now. In the last couple of week s alone we've seen the release of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Debt in our cinemas, as well as the likes of Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes on our TVs in recent years.

This release, by French director François Ozon and starring French screen legends Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu, is a tongue-in-cheek look back at a time when women were supposed to know their place in society.

It's 1977 and Mrs Suzanne Pujol (Denueve) has reached a curious point in her life where she is seemingly content with her lot. She has two grown up children and her husband runs the family business of making umbrellas that was once the responsibility of her own father.

Compared to the average French person, they are comfortably wealthy, and Suzanne wants for nothing; unlike her husband Robert (Fabrice Luchini), who feels the need to have an affair with his assistant. Suzanne is aware of her husband's infidelity, but in view of their position in society, and taking her children into consideration, she's prepared to turn the other cheek.

But although Suzanne feels comfortable with the status quo, the rest of France apparently isn't. The workers in the factory are crying out for changes, and are prepared to strike for their cause.

Things get out of hand when the workers decide to not only rise up against the management, but actually take it hostage. With Robert in working class hands, it is suggested by her ex lover and ex union leader Maurice Babin (Depardieu), that only a change in management is likely to appease the working masses. So Suzanne, who is considered a trophy wife, finds herself at the head of the company her father ran before her.

With the once subservient Suzanne now at the helm of the company, a surprising number of changes take place, most notably those within the new boss herself.

Catherine, I would pee in a bottle at 20,000 feet for you. You know that, don't you?

Based on a 1980 stage play of the same name, written by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Grédy, Ozon appears to have had great fun in adapting it for the screen. For instance, he goes to great pains in recreating the seventies theme throughout. The film is awash with the colours and fashions that made that particular decade stand out from the crowd. But probably more important than all those things, it's what passed for being socially acceptable at the time that the director enjoys scrutinizing the most, particularly that of the role of women.

The director uses Deneuve's character as a conduit of change in French attitudes towards women. She's been married so long that she has no fight left in her, after being constantly put down by her husband. But much like the workers in the factory, Suzanne's way of life goes through a revolution of her very own.

On the surface Ozon delivers a warm and gentle comedy that sees its main character undergo a catalyst of change. Scratch a little deeper and you'll discover political rhetoric that draws comparisons with French society today – if you care to look that is. The problem is, unless you're French, or have a keen interest in French politics, the parallels that Ozon draws on may be somewhat lost on you.

What's left then is light and fluffy enough, with both French heavyweights Deneuve and Depardieu breezily wafting through the material.

As quant, charming and nostalgic as the film is, it does suffer from lacking humour. Of course there is a chance that it's full of belly laughs, but you have to be French to appreciate them. If that's the case then c'est la vie.