Trois enfants... dans le désordre (1966)

Trois enfants... dans le désordre is a French film comedy first released in 1966, directed by Léo Joannon.  The film stars Bourvil, Jean Lefebvre, Rosy Varte, Anne-Marie Carrière and Uta Taeger.  It has also been released under the title: Three Disordered Children.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


Eugène Laporte is a successful businessman.  His plans to get married and start a family are frustrated by the machinations of an unscrupulous rival.  Imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, Eugène realises that the only way to prevent the State from seizing his entire personal fortune is to invent a family for himself.  His loyal employee Fernand sets out to find three fatherless children who will serve Eugène’s plan.  Then Eugène is released from prison, but only after he has claimed parental responsibility for the three children.  To avoid a further prison sentence he has no choice but to adopt the three children when they find their way to his home.   First there is Georges, an unruly young boy who has a habit of running away.  Then there is Zoé, an aspiring young singer who needs a father so that she can obtain a visa to go to Russia.  And then there is Roger, who is mixed up with petty criminals.   When two of his adopted children’s mothers decide to move into his house, Eugène realises that he has his hands well and truly full.  And his wife-to-be is none too pleased...

Popular comic actor Bourvil is on fine form in this light-hearted comic farce, where he stars alongside the lovable Jean Lefebvre (best known for his appearances in the Louis de Funès Gendarmes films).  Although the plot is very silly and some of the characters even sillier, this is an entertaining little film which manages to keep the jokes coming, through a series of increasingly improbable plot twists.  The uneasy relationship between the different generations that is portrayed in this film is just as mid-1960s as its groovy music and costumes.  With a fairly bland supporting cast, the film relies heavily on the talents of its lead actor, but this provides a welcome opportunity for us to enjoy Bourvil’s larger-than-life personality and succumb to his unerring ability for making us laugh.

© James Travers 2004

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