Le Placard (2001) - film review

When, François Pignon, a modest accountant in a rubber factory, learns that he is soon to be made redundant, his friendly neighbour proposes a scheme to ensure he keeps his job.  If it were widely known that he is gay (even though he isn’t), his boss wouldn’t dare fire him.  François agrees to go through the ruse and the very next day, a compromising photograph of François embracing another man lands on his manager’s desk.  François’ job may have been saved, but things to do not turn out quite as he planned...

A comedy which looks as if it were engineered more for an American market than home consumption in France, Le Placard is the first film to be directed by Francis Veber since his staggeringly successful 1998 film, Le Dîner de cons.  The film was generally ill-received by critics in France but still enjoyed a reasonable (but not exceptional) commercial success in France, although it is likely to be far more successful abroad, particularly in America and the UK.

Compared with similar American comedies, Le Placard is better made, better acted, certainly better written, and probably more entertaining.  The celebrated Veber wit, which has delighted international audiences for more than two decades of French films, shows no signs of ailing, although much of the comedy in this film lacks the refinement of his earlier successes.  Disappointingly, the film sees Veber go for the obvious joke far too often, and this (coupled with a half-hearted attempted to offset the comedy with some serious scenes) slightly mars the film.  Le Placard tries to be a French comedy-drama and an American sitcom at the same time, but it just fails to achieve a happy synthesis.

The film is essentially a wry satire on office politics, which anyone who is familiar with the office environment will find hilariously funny and disturbingly true to life.  Although every situation is exaggerated for comic effect, the film’s central premise that people’s impression of you can very easily be altered is all too believable.   The film also offers a refreshing satire on political correctness, and ends up itself being the very antithesis of political correctness. 

A cast of leading French actors that most directors can only dream of will doubtless add to the film’s appeal, but this is not necessarily to the film’s advantage.   Gérard Depardieu lacks the conviction and weight of his previous roles and looks as if he is re-playing Obélix in his earlier Astérix film, whilst each of the female characters in the film comes across as a shallow stereotype.  Daniel Auteuil gives a sympathetic performance as Veber’s eponymous hero-loser François Pignon (the character played so brilliantly by Jacques Villeret in Le Dîner de cons), but it is probably Michel Aumont who is most impressive, giving us a moving portrayal as Pignon’s helpful neighbour.   Jean Rochefort, another great comic French actor, lends the film some class which may otherwise have been lacking, whilst Thierry Lhermitte’s part in the film is so insignificant as to be almost superfluous (an obvious case of Veber going way overboard with the all-star casting).

Whilst not nearly as intelligent and satisfying as Le Dîner de cons, Le Placard is overall a pleasing French comedy.  Its lack of subtlety and its obvious comic excesses will perhaps disappoint true gourmets of French cinema, but that should at least make the film accessible to a much wider audience.

© James Travers 2002

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