Circulez y'a rien à voir (1983)
Directed by Patrice Leconte

Film Review

The plot may be ludicrous and the comic situations do have a tendency to be a tad forced and repetitive, but for all that Circulez y'a rien à voir is an entertaining and irresistibly funny comedy from a director who excels in this kind of film, Patrice Leconte. In a film that takes the concept of police harassment to its absolute limit, Michel Blanc is the diminutive, unkempt and seemingly irrational police inspector, whilst Jane Birkin is the cool and elegant art dealer, the object of Leroux's mad obsession.  It is a chalk and cheese pairing which has its comic moments but which, overall, never seems to gel as well as you might hope - or maybe that's just me still hankering after a Birkin re-match with Pierre Richard.

But why would a gorgeous and wealthy young woman like Birkin put up with the unwelcome attentions of a balding, middle-aged dwarf?  And just what is it that attracts the policeman to the wealthy lady who is several hundred rungs above him in the social ladder?  Is it love or is it blind intuition that the art dealer will turn out to be a master criminal?  The film makes no real attempt to give either of the main characters a rational basis - they are there primarily just to service all the gags from the improbable situations they get themselves into.  As a comedy, the whole thing appears somewhat forced, but that doesn't prevent it from being funny. It's just not as good as Leconte's previous comedies - Les Bronzés (1978) and Viens chez moi, j'habite chez une copine (1981). Still, the sequence where Leroux and Duvenet struggle - against all the odds - to dispose of a human cadaver is pure comic genius.

Film Synopsis

Inspector Leroux and his colleague Pelissier are investigating a petty theft when they encounter the wealthy and elegant art dealer, Helene Duvernet.  Instantly attracted to the young woman, Leroux goes to increasingly desperate lengths to meet her.  Although she finds this harassment mildly entertaining at first, Miss Duvernet soon becomes exasperated with Leroux, who seems to cling to her like a leech.   But, then again, she has good reason not to be mixed up with the police...