Augustin, roi du Kung-fu (1999) - film review

The eternally optimistic bit-part actor Augustin Don Santos intends to become the next big star of the martial arts film genre.  First he must research the role he is destined to play.  Unable to afford the flight to the East, he does the next best thing and checks into a hotel in Paris’ Chinatown.  There he finds a job in a shop which sells tacky Chinese bric-a-brac and takes evening classes in Kung-Fu.  Augustin’s dreams are thwarted when he discovers that practicing martial arts involves bodily contact, something he cannot endure.  To cure him of this phobia, he consults an acupuncturist, Dr Ling.  The treatment proves to be more effective than he hoped and he soon ends up falling in love…

Four years after his appearance in Anne Fontaine’s short film Augustin (1995), Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc makes a welcome return as the totally self-unaware bit actor whose ambitions are totally disproportionate to his ability.  As in the earlier film, Sibertin-Blanc plays the part of Augustin to perfection – irresistibly funny in some places, intensely moving in others.  Whilst the character ought to be shallow and unlikable, Sibertain-Blanc makes him enigmatic and sympathetic.  Here is an actor who has a natural talent for engaging with an audience and drawing them into his own personal universe.  The fact that he happens to be Anne Fontaine’s own brother is almost an irrelevance; Fontaine could not have found a better actor to play the part.

Whilst Sibertin-Blanc is unquestionably the star of the film there are also some very memorable contributions from some other notable actors.  In her first French-language speaking role, Maggie Cheung is captivating as Augustin’s love interest, leaving little doubt that she has a great future as a serious dramatic actor following on from her prolific film and television career in Hong Kong.  There is also a pleasing performance from Darry Cowl, a veteran comedian who has starred in dozens of popular French films and who has a very distinctive style of comedy.  The three disparate actors work together remarkably well, giving the film much of its colour and eccentric humour.

Lighter in tone than much of Anne Fontaine’s work, Augustin, roi du Kung-fu is nonetheless just as artistically accomplished and satisfying as the director’s better known films.  The cinematography is as beautiful as it is effective; the establishing shots of Paris’ Chinatown really do create the illusion that Augustin has arrived in a foreign land.  In addition, both the script and direction show great self-restraint and maturity, avoiding weepy sentimentality but still having a palpable emotional impact.  The comedy is likewise used sparingly but to great effect.  The scene where Augustin attempts to give acting tips to Fanny Ardant is priceless.  All in all, this is a magical, heart-warming little film.  As it traces one solitary man’s long and difficult journey of self-discovery (on a bicycle), it is strangely evocative of the spirit of those martial arts films that were so inexplicably popular in the 1970s.  Augustin is indeed the King of Kung-Fu.

© James Travers 2004

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