Rendez-moi ma peau... (1980) - film review

Realising that she is losing her special powers, a witch named Zora sets off to find the only man who can help her, the Grand Master.  En route, she has a traffic accident with two mortals, a television repair man, Jean-Pierre, and a housewife, Marie.  In a fit of pique, Zora swaps their two bodies, so that Jean-Pierre has the body of a woman, and Marie that of a man.  As Zora drives off leaving her victims stranded, Jean-Pierre and Marie agree to work together to find Zora in the hope that she can reverse their transformation.  They engage a private detective, Hector Shoms, to track down the missing witch.  Whilst Shoms and his assistant, Datson, pursue their enquiry, Jean-Pierre and Marie attempt to return to their everyday life...

With its frothy mix of burlesque comedy, occult fantasy and keen satire, Rendez-moi ma peau ought to be a first rate comic film.  Unfortunately, the film veers to extreme silliness on far too many occasions and its lack of sophistication and self-restraint is often more tiring than entertaining.  That said, there is some great comedy in this film, the best scenes being those where the body-exchanged victims try to continue their lives as if nothing has happened.  The obvious jokes about sexual inequality in the home and the workplace are made, although, alas, this kind of intelligent satire takes up a comparatively small part of the film.  Most of the film is concerned with increasingly bizarre methods of fortune-telling and wizardry.

© James Travers 2001

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