Le Bon plaisir (1984)

Le Bon plaisir is a French romantic film drama first released in 1984, directed by Francis Girod.  The film is based on a novel by Françoise Giroud and stars Catherine Deneuve, Michel Serrault, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Michel Auclair and Hippolyte Girardot.  Our overall rating for this film is: mediocre.


Claire Despres, the former mistress of a man who is now President of France, is assaulted and her handbag stolen.  The handbag contains a revealing letter which Claire received from the President many years ago, a letter which could very well end his political career.  When he hears this news, the President determines to recover the compromising letter at any cost...

Despite some above average production values, this is a very dry political satire which never seems to get going.  Although the performances from its stars, particularly Serrault and Trintignant, are up to scratch, the characters are generally uninteresting and appear disinterested in what is happening to them.  There are some nice comic touches, and the ending is quite dramatic.  But the film doesn’t really have a clear theme, which is both unsatisfying and irritating.

The parallels with the real-life President of France are there (Trintigant’s President bears more than a passing similarity to  François Mitterand), but are hardly subtle.  You are left with the feeling that what could have been a very astute political satire has ended up as a rather mediocre suspense drama.

© James Travers 2001

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