Bons baisers... à lundi (1974)
Directed by Michel Audiard

Film Review

Bons baisers... à lundi was the last film to be directed by Michel Audiard, one of the screenwriting legends of French cinema whose penchant for witty dialogue (on such classics as Les Tontons flingueurs and Les Barbouzes) was never matched by his directing efforts.  Realising, perhaps a little belatedly, that his real talents lay elsewhere, Audiard gave up film directing after a string of lively comedies which were generally reviled by the critics but loved by cinema audiences.  Because of his standing as a screenwriter, Audiard had no difficulty luring top-notch actors into his films, and his directorial swansong is no exception.  In addition to the obligatory Jean Carmet and Bernard Blier (here looking more scarily belligerent than ever in a ridiculous grey wig), Michel Bouquet shows up in a rare comedic role (and manages to be the funniest thing on offer).  Julien Guiomar and Maria Pacôme inject further madness into the proceedings, with André Pousse almost stealing the film in his all to brief scene.

In common with practically all of Michel Audiard's films, Bons baisers... à lundi is an undisciplined mess that is substantially redeemed by its abundance of gags and (over) enthusiastic performances.  The comedy godfather of French cinema, Blier never fails to get a laugh, even when he is being badly upstaged by his hairpiece from Hell.  And the trio of inept comedy gangsters formed by Jean Carmet, Jacques Canselier and Jean-Jacques Moreau is so funny you wonder why they never ended up with their own television series.

Bons baisers... à lundi may not be the worst offender but it does exemplify the kind of aimless comedy that French cinema audiences had to endure in the 1970s - a rambling accumulation of gags that barely resembles a coherent narrative, openly misogynistic and replete with the kind of offensive caricature that we haven't seen since the days when striped tank-tops and implausibly wide flairs were considered acceptable fashionwear.  (There must have been a clause somewhere in the French constitution which stipulated that every comedy made in France in this decade had to include one excessively effeminate gay man, one corrupt gendarme and at least one overt national stereotype, preferably of the sexy female variety).

If Audiard hadn't been so preoccupied with directing the film he might have had the opportunity to put a bit more effort into the script, instead of relying on his son Jacques (later to become a director in his own right) to give the film some semblance of order.  Most of the French comedies of the 1970s either disappeared into oblivion not long after they were released or went on to become cult classics.  Bons baisers... à lundi is fortunate to enjoy the latter status, and for all its many, many, many failings, it is still an enjoyable romp - not a bad way for Audiard to bring his short but distinctive directing career to a close.  Any film that offers the unlikely prospect of Michel Bouquet dancing a hot Spanish number with Jean Carmet deserves its place in posterity.

Film Synopsis

Three small-time hoodlums, Henri-Pierre, Bob and Dimitri, are convinced they can make a mint by holding-up a soiree hosted by showbiz king Frankie Strong at his Paris apartment.  With such a glittering gathering of the rich and the famous, how could the scheme fail?  The crooks make one fatal mistake - the party is being hosted not by Frankie but by the occupant of the flat beneath his.  Frankie's entourage includes only his wife, his valet, his Spanish housekeeper and the young woman he is grooming to be the next singing sensation.  As neither Frankie nor his wife has a habit of walking around with cash in their pockets, the most that the crooks can extract from their victims is a few paltry francs.  Not one to give up on a lost cause, Henri-Pierre forces Frankie to write him a cheque for an indecently large sum of money.  The problem is that it is now Friday evening and the crooks will not be able to cash the cheque until the banks open on Monday morning.  The only solution is for the crooks to take Frankie and his household hostage for the entire weekend...