La Femme de mon pote (1983) - film review

Micky, an overweight disk jockey, and Pascal, a beau sportswear salesman, live and work in an alpine skiing resort.  Their ten-year long friendship is put in instant jeopardy when, one day, Micky learns that an attractive young woman, Viviane, has moved in with Pascal.  Whilst Pascal is away, Viviane tries to seduce Micky, but the latter values his friendship with Pascal too greatly to give in so easily.   Gradually, Micky becomes aware of his attraction towards Viviane and, in the end, he realises she is the girl for him.  But how is he to break the news to Pascal?

The ménage-à-trois situation is a recurring theme in director Bertrand Blier’s deliciously subversive filmography and it is always interesting to compare the different way he approaches the subject in his films, from the outrageously farcical Tenue de soirée to the intensely brooding Trop belle pour toi.   La Femme de mon pote is the closest Blier comes to a traditional French romantic comedy and is, for that reason, the least interesting of his angst-ridden three-in-a-bed romps.  Lacking the subtlety, cruel irony and dark ambiguity of Blier’s later films, La Femme de mon pote still manages to appeal, thanks mainly to the contribution from its lead actor, the adorable Coluche.

Although perhaps better known for his controversial stand-up comedy routines and outspoken politics, Coluche also established himself as a talented actor in a dozen or so films before his untimely death in the mid-1980s.  Here, with some sublime dialogue, he gives one his most poignant and convincing performances, that of a lonely man who is torn between a long-standing friendship and the passing temptation afforded by a beautiful woman.  That woman is played by none other than Isabelle Huppert, who has since built a reputation as one of France’s finest film actresses.  Huppert’s beauty and sensual femininity are rarely as fully utilised as they are in this film, making it a treat for her fans, although some will doubtless lament the fact that her role doesn’t really allow her to stretch her acting skills too far.   Thierry Lhermitte completes the respectable threesome and just manages to avoid reprising his character Popeye from the Bronzés films.

© James Travers 2003

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