Le Père Noël a les yeux bleus (1966) - film review

An unemployed young man, Daniel, walks the streets of his town, trying to chat up girls, making money here and there through scams with his friends.  To earn money to buy himself a new coat, he accepts a job from a local photographer to dress up and pose as a pavement Santa Claus.   In his new costume, Daniel finds that he is treated far more kindly by people, especially women...

Jean Eustache’s first film is a fifty minute wry, slightly melancholic examination of 1960s French youth, from the point of view of a slightly marginalised and impoverished young man.  As with all of Eustache’s films, this film shows the director’s eye for detail and an intense sympathy with his subject matter.  Eustache was a late contributor to the French New Wave, but his contribution, small though it is, is significant.  In many ways, Le Père Noël a les yeux bleus manages to capture the very essence of the New Wave cinema, with its apparently improvised dialogue, expansive location shots, young rebellious characters, and an intense feeling of freshness.

The film was made with some spare film which Jean-Luc Godard had left over after making Maculin, Féminin, and the similarity with that film is very noticeable. Jean-Pierre Léaud is the lead actor in both films, although in Eustache’s film his character is slightly closer to the solitary rebel Antoine Doinel which he played in an earlier film, Les Quatres cents coups.  (Having Léaud gazing at his own image in a poster for that film was one stunt Eustache obviously couldn’t resist pulling – self indulgent but very funny.)

Léaud may not be the best choice for a pavement Santa Claus but he is perfect material for Eustache’s brand of introspective, slightly anarchistic, cinema.  He would go on to play the lead role in Eustache’s best film, La maman et la putain, which is widely regarded as one of the triumphs of French cinema.

© James Travers 2001

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