Le Père Noël est une ordure (1982) - film review

One Christmas Eve, the staff of SOS Détresse, a Paris-based social services team, have their hands full.  Unaware that their colleague Madame Musquin is trapped in the elevator, Pierre and Thérèse man the phones and try to console the capital’s depressed and distressed.  An obviously pregnant woman, Zézette, suddenly arrives at their office, demanding sanctuary from her violent husband, Félix, who is close behind her.  Pierre and Thérèse eventually manage to subdue Félix – who is still dressed in his working clothes as a street Father Christmas - and he ends up in hospital.  Pierre then receives a personal visit from one of his clients, Katia, a manic transvestite who mistakes Pierre for his/her beau idéal.  The series of catastrophes reaches its climax when Félix appears unexpectedly, brandishing a gun.  In the ensuing crisis, Katia is nearly crippled, Pierre makes an honest woman of Thérèse, a lift repairman is killed, and Félix and Zézette devise an ingenious method for disposing of a dead body...

Although it was initially very ill-received when it was first released in France in the 1980s, Le Père Noël est une ordure has since matured (as a fine wine might) into one of that country’s most highly regarded cult classics.  Admittedly, the film’s anarchically dark humour is unlikely to appeal to all tastes, and some spectators will undoubtedly be shocked by the grotesquely caricaturised treatment which is meted out to such unfortunate individuals as beaten housewives and suicidal depressives.  (Advice to a man holding a gun to his head: "Just press the button...")  Beneath the apparently juvenile humour and chaotic excesses, there is actually quite a serious side to this film, and it makes some cogent observations about how we as a society behave during the Christmas period.

What Le Père Noël est une ordure offers is fundamentally a grim satire on the way in which individuals in difficulty are trampled on and ignored by a society that is caught up in its own egocentric excesses.  The cynicism and ineptitude of a Samaritans-like social services team (headed by, of all people, Thierry Lhermitte) reflects a world in which supposedly right-minded individuals respond to the misfortune of others mechanically, without compassion or commitment.  The glitzy fairytale like opening to the film soon fades away to expose the grim reality of life which is lived by those on the margins – financial insecurity, domestic violence, personal disorders, and worse.  We may give up our time and our money to helps others in distress, but are we really bothered?

For those who are not easily offended, Le Père Noël est une ordure is an extremely funny film, one which certainly deserves its classic status.  Intelligently scripted and performed with real comic flair, it manages to be both entertaining and thought-provoking, without getting overwhelmed by the depressing nature of its subject and without slipping too deeply into the mire of indecency.

The film was directed by Jean-Marie Poiré, who later went on to achieve an enormous popular success with Les Visiteurs (1993).  It was based on a successful stage play which was written and performed by that remarkable team of comic performers, L’Équipe du Splendid, most of whom appear in this film and many of whom have since gone on to become major stars in France.  With so many talented performers – incuding Thierry Lhermitte, Christian Clavier, Anémone , Josiane Balasko, Marie-Anne Chazel and Gérard Jugnot - all perfect in their roles and all giving no less than 100 per cent, Le Père Noël est une ordure is a film to savour.

© James Travers 2003

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