Tanguy (2001) - film review

Edith and Paul Guetz are so happy with the birth of their son Tanguy that they promise he can live with them forever.  Twenty-eight years later, Tanguy, a cultivated intellectual, is still ensconced in the family home – and his parents can hardly wait to see the back of him.  When Tanguy reveals that it will be at least another year before he can complete his doctoral thesis and start looking for a full-time job, Edith’s nerves finally give way.   She persuades her husband that the time has come to drive their stay-at-home son away, by whatever means possible...

After La vie est un long fleuve tranquille (1988), Tatie Danielle (1990) and Le bonheur est dans le pré (1995), director Étienne Chatiliez offers yet another dark, satirical portrait of family life in Tanguy.  The film’s subject is one which an increasing number of middle aged parents will identify with as the “Kangeroo Generation” (to quote one French weekly new magazine) becomes an increasing social phenomenon.  Whereas previous generations of children born after WWII were all too glad to break away from their parents, those born in the mid-1970s onwards seem increasingly unwilling, or unable, to stand on their own two feet.  As Tanguy implies, there are a whole host of reasons for this – there is the financial factor certainly, but young people are also far more emotionally dependent on their parents than previous generations may have been.  And this is in spite of the fact that young people seem to mature more quickly than ever before.

Although there is much that Chatiliez could have made of this social situation he really only uses it as a vehicle to entertain us with his black comic wit.  Tanguy is first and foremost a comedy in the traditional vein, with exaggerated comic situations, over-the-top comic performances and none-to-subtle characterisation.  Although somewhat less sophisticated than Chatiliez’s earlier films, Tanguy still manages to entertain and has an unusual cinematic style which gives it at least an aura of originality.  The frequent oriental references are part of the film’s charm but do seem strangely incongruous and overused, being scarcely justified by a short sequence at the end of the film.

It is certainly a treat to see Sabine Azéma and André Dussollier in a popular comedy, even if their performances merely emphasise the obvious caricatured nature of their roles.  However, the film’s star is Eric Berger who, in his first major film role, is perfectly cast as the unintentionally nauseating Tanguy.  As ever, Chatiliez has no difficulty dividing our sympathies between his principal characters – here, the mild mannered son who unconsciously exploits his parents’ generosity and the scheming parents who will resort to any means to rid their home of their tiresome charge.

© James Travers 2004

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