Adhémar ou le jouet de la fatalité (1951) - film review

A wealthy benefactor who had the misfortune to be born ugly builds an asylum to house wretches whom, through their physical deformities, have been rejected by society.  Before an assessment panel, Adhémar Pomme explains why he must be admitted to this asylum.  By recounting his tragic life story, he reveals that his unusual features cause all who meet him to burst into laughter, making him a menace to civilised society...

Who better to star in Sacha Guitry’s comic morality tale than France’s most celebrated screen comedian, Fernandel.   Although best known for his ebullient comic performances in his films of the 1930s, Fernandel became, in the course of his long screen career, an accomplished actor, sometimes displaying a darker, more melancholic, side to his persona.  This is certainly noticeable in Adhémar ou le jouet de la fatalité, where, through one his most poignant performances, the tragedy of the comic performer is all too clearly revealed.

Fernandel also directed the film, at the request of Guitry who was too ill himself to direct the film.  This was probably a mistake, because the film’s central premise - to expose societies’ attitudes towards people with physical deformities – is diluted and the film ends up seeming to justify the exclusion of such unfortunate individuals.  Behind the cheery song "Le rire est un instant divin" which closes the film, there is an unpalatable sense that ill-treatment of the afflicted is perfectly acceptable.  In any event, the film’s cry of conscience is muddled by the comic imperative which Fernandel, through accident or design, drives through the film.

© James Travers 2001

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