La Meilleure façon de marcher (1976) - film review

In the summer of 1960, Marc and Philippe work as supervisors in a French summer camp for young boys.  Their different methods of treating their young charges reflect their different personalities.  Marc, an extrovert bully, leads his boys as if they were rookie soldiers, subjecting them to a gruelling schedule of sport and drill exercises.  Philippe, by contrast, is a quieter, kinder man, who is more concerned with developing his boys’ artistic talents.  The two men co-exist comfortably side-by-side until one day Marc sees Philippe dressed up as a woman in his room.  From that day, Marc is determined to make Philippe’s life a misery.  He humiliates Philippe in front of his fellow supervisors and then his girlfriend, Chantal.  Finally, Philippe can take no more.  His self-esteem in tatters, he is driven to take a drastic revenge against his tormenter…

Claude Miller – previously assistant director to François Truffaut – made an impressive directorial debut with this daring study of masculinity, a film which is regarded by many as one of his finest efforts.  Like his mentor Truffaut, Claude Miller is blessed with an acute understanding of human nature and he brings an almost shocking sense of conviction to his film dramas.   La Meilleure façon de marcher is a good illustration of this and, in its day, it was quite a groundbreaking work, since very few films had previously tackled the issue of what it means to be a man with such frankness and sincerity.

The two characters in the film, Marc and Philippe, represent two diametrically opposed facets of masculinity – Marc the virile, physical lout, Philippe the well-mannered, studious type.  The two kinds of male personas still exist, and have probably always existed, each fatally drawn towards the other in a kind of love/hate symbiosis, from which each derives some sort of perverse self-justification.  The conflict between them, so masterfully captured in this film,  is perhaps as ancient and as unforgiving as that which exists between men and women.

In this, his most consciously autobiographical work, Claude Miller is well-served by an excellent cast, which is headed by the – as ever – magnificent Patrick Dewaere and Patrick Bouchitey.  Dewaere plays the kind of character with which he would be most associated and in which no other actor could rival him – a stark caricature of the butch loner, a socially ostracised social stereotype.  For possibly the only occasion in his career, Dewaere is out-classed by his co-star, here Patrick Bouchitey, who, in playing the sympathetic victim to Dewaere’s psychological torturer, reveals an unexpected talent and is easily the film’s focal point.

Although it is the contest between Bouchitey and Dewaere which takes most of our attention, some light relief if afforded by a fine supporting cast.  Claude Piéplu gives a delightful (almost Tati-esque) comic performance as the summer school’s ineffectual director whilst the enchanting Christine Pascal shines in the role of the film’s single female character.   Michel Blanc appears in one of his earliest film roles, some time before he achieved national celebrity in France for his contribution in cult comedies such as Les Bonzés .

La Meilleure façon de marcher was a popular film on its release in 1976, winning critical acclaim for its director.  In 1977, the film was nominated for no less than five Césars – including best actor (Dewaere), best script and best director (the award it won was for Bruno Nuytten’s excellent cinematography).

© James Travers 2003

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