Carré de valets (1947)
Directed by André Berthomieu

Film Review

Released at a time, just after WWII, when there was precious little to laugh at in France, Carré de valets must have brought some badly needed comic relief to an audience coping with the grim privations of post-war austerity.  A spirited mix of farce and social satire, bordering on the insane in parts, the film seems to belong to another, far less inhibited era - the mid-1930s.  Although his name does not appear in the credits, the dialogue was provided by the distinguished screenwriter Henri Jeanson, whom we more readily associate with far more serious fare, such as Marcel Carné's Hôtel du nord (1938) and Julien Duvivier's Pépé le Moko (1937).

The film is just one in a long line of popular comedies directed by André Berthomieu, who notched up a number of hits with the legendary comic Bourvil (Pas si bête, Le Coeur sur la main), as well as helming more serious material such as L'Ange de la nuit (1944) and En légitime défense (1958).  Whilst the plot may be a tad too silly for its own good - it takes the central anti-bourgeois premise of Jean Renoir's Boudu sauvé des eaux (1932) and carries it to its extreme limit of farcical absurdity - the constant stream of gags (visual and verbal) and Feydeau-esque comic performances making it an enjoyable romp from start to finish.

Top billing goes to Jean Desailly and Martine Carol, who are not actors known for slumming it in lowbrow comedy of this kind.  Desailly is remembered for quality dramas such as La Symphonie pastorale (1946) and Patrie (1946), later employed by François Truffaut in one of his darkest films La Peau douce (1964).  The über-photogenic Carol will later be immortalised as Max Ophüls' Lola Montès.  Yet in their time, both actors ocasionally lent their talents to lighter fare and rarely do they show more comic flair than in Carré de valets, possibly their funniest film.  Pierre Larquey and Yves Deniaud are more natural habitués for this kind of popular divertissement, and they provide the comedy muscle needed to prevent the madcap humour mill from going completely AWOL.

The funniest moment: a Mr Bean-like Bernard Lajarrige failing to carry out his duties as a coachman because of his morbid terror of horses (the horse in question being a ferocious toothy beast named Fernandel).  Deniaud then proves his skill as a cook by serving up an unrecognisable concoction which Desailly christens 'blanquette bouillabaisse', to the delight of his snobbish dinner guests.  Carré de valets isn't so far from removed from the more outlandish comedies of Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder, a frantically funny farce that lays into the smart bourgeois set with all the refined grace and tact of a sabre-tooth tiger on roller skates.

Film Synopsis

Madame de La Bastide has high hopes that her son Jacques will follow in his father's footsteps and become a highly respected lawyer.  Unfortunately, Jacques has little interest in the law and would rather spend his days cavorting with his girlfriend Betty.  It is the mother who finally gets her way, by promising to double her son's allowance the day he wins his first case in court.  Jacques pulls off this seemingly impossible feat when he is called upon to defend a trio of petty criminals - Arthur Bonpain, Jules Furet and the latter's son Albert.  By pleading extenuating circumstances, Jacques manages to get his three clients acquitted, but this is not the outcome they had been hoping for.  Arthur and his chums had been expecting to be sent to prison for the winter, seeing this not as a punishment but rather a place of free board and lodging.

Athur's daughter Catherine calls on Jacques to explain the situation and he, a sucker for any attractive young woman, agrees to house the three criminals in his ample Parisian mansion, providing they agree to pose as servants.  Arthur is to be the valet, Jules the cook and Albert the coachman - in spite of the fact that the first has no experience of valeting, the second cannot cook and the third has an obsessive fear of horses.  Catherine also benefits from Jacques's generosity, becoming his personal secretary, although her duties seem to be limited to typing out endless copies of The Three Musketeers.  When Jules is discovered sheltering another crook, Philibert, in his bedroom, Jacques is obliged to adopt the latter as a houseguest.

Madame de La Bastide is taken in by these deceptions, thanks to her son's quick thinking, but the cat looks as if it might get out of the bag when Albert discovers that his promised future bride Catherine has taken a shine to Jacques.  To get even with the young lawyer, Jules and his son plan to sabotage a soiree hosted by the lady of the house.  Jules, an adept pickpocket, filches a fortune in jewellery from the guests, but disaster is averted when Jacques seizes the booty and explains that this was intended as part of the evening's entertainment.  A party of armed policemen then shows up and arrests Philibert, to the amusement of all the guests.  So successful does the soiree turn out to be that Jacques is emboldened to ask Albert for his daughter's hand in marriage.  All ends well, and Jules embarks on a new career as a stage magician.