Film Review
The main thing to note about this cheeky little comedy is that it was
one of the first in which France's supreme comedy legend Louis de Funès
had a substantial role. Over the previous decade, de Funès
had cropped up in around ninety films, most often on screen for barely a few
minutes, but in
Bébés
à gogo he gets one of his first fully fledged character
roles, and he is hilarious as a company representative actively fuelling France's
baby boom of the 1950s. Even though he proves to be the star of
the film, de Funès had to content himself with third billing,
after Jane Sourza and Raymond Souplex, another notable pair of comedy
performers made famous by their popular radio series
Sur le banc
and its subsequent
film adaptation.
The film is directed by Paul Mesnier, whose previous work includes the
Belle Époque drama
La Kermesse rouge (1947).
Immediately after appearing in this film, Souplex was offered his most
celebrated role, as Inspector Bourrel in the popular long running French
television crime series,
Les Cinq
Dernières Minutes, so he is far better known today as a
dramatic actor. One of the delights of
Bébés à gogo
is that it reveals Souplex's other side, his well-developed penchant
for comedy. In his first scene with de Funès he is turned
out as Louis XIV, probably the most effective way he could devise to
prevent his comedy rival from totally stealing the focus from
him. The other popular comedy performer who features in the film,
Jean Carmet, scarcely gets a look-in. Apart from a few dreadful
musical numbers and its ever so slightly disturbing premise (manufacturing
babies for profit),
Bébés
à gogo is a comedy delight that makes an effective satire on the
idiotic incentives to encourage 'familles nombreuses' in post-war
France.
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Stéphane Petitbourgeois, an accountant at a large department
store, shares his modest apartment with his wife Isabelle, daughter
Pat, son-in-law Hubert, and the latters' brood of nine children.
One day, Stéphane is visited by a publicity executive for a
firm of baby products, Célestin Ratier, and is told that he
stands to win a generous prize if he acquires three more grandchildren
before his fiftieth birthday. Instead of berating his daughter
and son-in-law on their fertility, as he has been for the past ten
years, Stéphane encourages them to go on churning out babies,
confident that he will win his prize of a dream house in the country
within three years. Unfortunately, Hubert's capacity for making
babies suddenly appears to have deserted him...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.