Les Mariés de l’an II (1971) - film review

After killing an aristocrat, commoner Nicolas Philibert bids a hasty farewell to his native France and arrives in the United States, where he soon makes his fortune as a crop merchant.  His marriage to the daughter of a wealthy man is frustrated when it is revealed that he is already married, to a woman still living in France.  The only solution is for Nicolas to return to France to divorce his wife.  He lands in his country of birth shortly after the French Revolution, to find that his wife Charlotte has allied herself with a party of loyalists who intend to dispose of the newly formed republic...

Les Mariés de l’an II typifies the kind of exuberant swashbuckler that was once highly popular in France and which still makes great entertainment today.  With its lavish production values, energetic pace and extravagant action sequences, it compares favourably with other, better known, offerings in the genre - such as Christian-Jaque’s Fanfan la Tulipe (1952) and André Hunebelle’s Le Bossu (1960) - although it does fall down somewhat in the script department.  Jean-Paul Belmondo, renowned for performing his own stunts, throws his all into yet another action hero portrayal par excellence, proving that he is a worthy successor to Gérard Philipe and Jean Marais in this field.

The film is directed with flair and a smattering of unmistakable Gallic humour by Jean-Paul Rappeneau, his second feature after the quirky wartime comedy La Vie de château (1966).  Although more prolific as a screenwriter than a director, Rappeneau has earned more acclaim for his directing, particularly for his subsequent historical epics, Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) and Le Hussard sur le toit (1995).   Les Mariés de l’an II matches both of these films in its scale, lush cinematography and meticulous attention to detail (even if it does offer a somewhat sanitised version of the French Revolution) but lacks their narrative coherence and intelligent dialogue.  It feels like a family comedy that is trying a little too hard to be something more substantial - not that this prevented it from being an enormous success when it was first released in France (it attracted an audience of almost three million).

An exceptional cast adds to the appeal of the film enormously.  The aforementioned Belmondo is partnered with the lovely Marlène Jobert, arguably cinema’s most attractive redhead, who makes a suitably feisty companion to the habitually hyperactive Bébel.  Much of the fun to be found in this film is down to Jobert, whose scenes with Belmondo are easily the most entertaining in the entire film.  Sami Frey and Italian beauty Laura Antonelli bring a touch of class to the proceedings, playing a brother and sister whose overtly incestuous relationship is flaunted for all it is worth (odd that, given this is supposed to be a family-friendly feature).  The quick-sighted will spot a young Patrick Dewaere, a few years before he became a major star of French cinema, whilst the film buffs will be rewarded with the spectacle of a doddery old Pierre Brasseur working hard to steal the show in one of his last, and most enjoyable, film appearances.   Les Mariés de l’an II probably doesn’t quite merit the epithet of classic, but it is still an amiable historical romp, guaranteed to brighten any dull evening.

© James Travers 2001-2010

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