Gazon maudit (1995) - film review

Laurent, a successful estate agent, and his wife Loli have two children, a nice house in the south and France and appear to be the very model of a happily married couple.  But all is not what it seems: Loli is growing bored of her uneventful housewife existence, whilst Laurent is secretly having affairs with every other woman in the neighbourhood.  When Marijo, a  butch lesbian plumber, enters their lives, it is like a spark falling on try tinder.  Loli is easily seduced by Marijo and when Laurent finds his wife is embarking on a lesbian love affair he loses control.  Although Marijo and Laurent hate each other, they agree to live together so they can share the woman they love…

Exquisitely funny, socially relevant and more than a little subversive, Gazon maudit exemplifies French cinema’s flair for romantic comedy and boldly pushes the genre into new territory.  Although it often veers towards farce and ends up in some bizarre, if not surreal, situations, it has throughout that malodorous whiff of truth about it which is often lacking in such films.  The characters may at first appear to be grotesque stereotypes (the cheating husband, the bored submissive housewife and the spanner-waving dyke) but, as we get to know them, they each acquire a tragicomic dimension which enables us to sympathise with their plight.   This is a film which challenges our assumptions and our attitudes about human relationships in general and sexuality in particular – albeit, possibly, with a little too much vigour – and has great fun along the way.

High profile comedienne Josiane Balasko – who is renowned in France for her crude working class brand of comedy – scripted, directed and starred in the film, accomplishing all three with a certain amount of energy, imagination and good humour.   The film is well-served by its three principal actors – Victoria Abril, Josiane Balasko and Alain Chabat – who give great entertainment value and play off each other brilliantly.  From the spectators point of view, it is a ménage-à-trois made in Heaven: Balasko’s seduction of Abril is a thing of surprising beauty (in spite of the crudity of Balasko’s character), whilst Chabat’s prejudice-spiked cat fights with Balasko become increasingly funny as the film progresses.  All three actors are to be credited for their contributions, which confirm their individual talent for dramatic comedy.  Catherine Samie’s sympathetic portrayal of an ageing prostitute is also worth mentioning, since this provides the film with possibly its most touching scene.

Towards the end, the film does start to flag, and has to resort to increasingly less likely developments to sustain its momentum and keep the audience entertained.  As a result, the clever satirical streak (which is so evident in the film’s first half) is diminished and the jaw-dropping ending fails to have the impact it merits.  Such quibbles aside, Gazon maudit is a film which is well worth seeing, mainly for its skilful handling of an unusual comic situation, garnished with the most deliciously tongue-in-cheek political incorrectness.

© James Travers 2003

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