Un singe en hiver (1962)

Un singe en hiver is a French film comedy-drama first released in 1962, directed by Henri Verneuil.  The film is based on a novel by Antoine Blondin and stars Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Suzanne Flon, Gabrielle Dorziat and Hella Petri.  It has also been released under the title: A Monkey in Winter.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


A young man, Gabriel Fouquet, arrives in a coastal town in Normandy to visit his daughter, who is staying in a boarding school.  He ends up lodging in a guesthouse run by the aged Albert Quentin and his wife Suzanne.  To forget his troubles, Gabriel hits the bottle, not realising that the teetotal Albert was once a heavy drinker.  Twenty years ago, the latter pledged never to touch alcohol again if he and his wife survived the war. Through his friendship with Gabriel, Albert becomes nostalgic about his past, recalling his time as a sailor on an expedition to China.  To drown their sorrows, the two men embark on a drinking binge which quickly gets out of hand...

Un singe en hiver is a gentle comedy which takes a melancholic view of friendship, nostalgia and drink.  It was based on a popular novel by the French writer Antoine Blondin.   The film’s classic status stems mainly from Verneuil’s inspired decision to cast Jean Gabin and Jean-Paul Belmondo, the iconic standard-bearers for two different generations of French cinema, in the principal roles.  Gabin and Belmondo play off each other perfectly, their on-screen rapport offering a very visible testimony of their off-screen friendship.  (It is reported that Gabin became an active participant in friendly football matches which Belmondo organised during the location work for this film.)

Where the film is most effective and most poignant is in the way it brings together two very different characters, who, like lost children, forge a friendship that affords them a brief respite from their unsatisfying lives.  Another of the film’s pleasures is the deliciously tongue-in-cheek dialogue, provided by one of France cinema’s most popular and talented screenwriters, Michel Audiard.

Although it looks a little flat and stagy when compared with the films the New Wave directors of the day were putting out, Un singe en hiver does have its charms.  Brimming with manic energy, the youthful Belmondo brings a touch of anarchy to the film – the scene where he plays bullfighter to some irate motorists in a busy road offers a hint of the kind of madcap stunts which would earn him his reputation.  Gabin’s professionalism and unceasing ability to play any character à la perfection gives the film its quality feel and its striking humanism (the last scene of the film being devastatingly effective).

Although it has some shortcomings (Michel Magne’s music is far too intrusive, and the budgetary limitations are all too apparent in the film’s opening chapter), Un singe en hiver is overall a satisfying and memorable film.  It is perceptive, witty, and is held together by an indefinable sense of poetry, providing a wistful but not depressing meditation on life.

© James Travers 2003

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