Mon Chien Stupide

The bluntly titled My Dog Stupid, which is one of the two stories that make up Rome, is a hilariously honest self-portrait of Fante as an over-the-hill loser — a failed novelist and hack screenwriter with four spoiled kids and a wife who can’t stand him The result is a well-written and -played remarriage dramedy that explores the Attal-Gainsbourg duo as they hit middle age and their kids gradually, and sometimes reluctantly, leave the nest. A score by jazz musician Brad Mehldau, including a lovely solo piano rendition of Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android,” further adds to a downcast atmosphere that’s not without a glimmer of hope.