But plenty of Aussies lapped up Marc Fitoussi's work on SBS over the past few years as his television series Call My Agent became a smash hit. The show is a very meta behind-the-scenes comedy set at a talent agency, and with the who's-who of French cinema, stage and television playing versions of themselves as the agency's needy clients.

After a handful of seasons, Fitoussi handed over the show's reins and returned to directing feature films.

His new comedy Two Tickets to Greece (original title Les Cyclades) is the feel-good Boxing Day release at Palace Cinemas and other cinemas around the country.

The film sees two old primary school friends reunite after decades, thrown together on what ought to be an idyllic sojourn to a spa in the Greek Islands.

Divorced and with her teenage son headed off to university, Blandine (Olivia Cote) is as uptight as they come. Rather than endure a week in Greece with his cranky mum, son Benjamin (Alexandre Dessrousseaux) tracks down Blandine's old childhood friend Magalie (Laure Calamy) and gives her his ticket. Magalie is a bit of a free spirit, still living her life like a teenager, and the holiday feels like a trial for Blandine, even in the opulent luxury of the home and company of Blandine's wealthy best friend Bijou (Kristin Scott Tomas).

The women have chosen the Greek island of Amorgos as their destination as one of the shared memories they have before life separated them was loving the French film The Big Blue, filmed on the island.

I have fond memories of that film myself, and so when I have the chance to chat to Fitoussi over Zoom, I ask him what he liked about that film.

Even though Fitoussi's spoken English seems better than mine, we're using an interpreter as he wants to be sure he's correctly articulating his thoughts across languages. The interpreter laughs and says that Fitoussi didn't think much of the film but he selected it because it was a cult film to the generation of his characters, so it was a strategic choice.

I ask then if writing a film - Fitoussi wrote the screenplay as well as directing - for himself to shoot for a couple of months in the Greek islands was also strategic and did his friends believe him when he says that it was hard work?

"Actually, it was a little bit of a nightmare," he replies through his interpreter.

"The islands are very windy, so it required a lot of sound takes, but also because of the wind we had issues with performers' hair and getting sand in their eyes, the sea was full of jellyfish so the actors didn't want to go in the water, but we can laugh about it now.

"Well, I did learn my lesson so it is just Paris locations in the future," he says. However, he admits that he is filming in Paris at the moment and with the building under way in preparation for next year's Olympic Games, he is finding new frustrations close to home.

I suggest to Fitoussi that a good comedy is something we all need at the moment, and he says that he loves comedy but doesn't know how to write one without drama.

Australian audiences will of course be familiar with one of the film's stars, the actress Kristin Scott Thomas of Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient. Many will not be aware that Scott Thomas has flawless French and works cross Britain, the US and France.

This is a quite different role for her - her character looks and dresses like a cross between Meryl Streep and Cher from the Mamma Mia! films, and she plays a warm and wise Earth-mother type.

Fitoussi says that had he proposed a role for Scott Thomas where she played a member of parliament or a lawyer, she would have quickly refused him, but that she loved that this was the complete opposite of the cold characters she is usually typecast as.

Fitoussi cast one of his Call My Agent stars, Laure Calamy, as the film's not-quite-grown-up music writer, Magalie.

You might have among your friends someone immune to shame and embarrassment, and that's Magalie. Fitoussi says Calamy had a lot of her own life experience to bring to the script and that he really enjoyed working with performers who weren't concerned with presenting a flattering image of themselves.

Two Tickets to Greece opens in cinemas on Boxing Day.