L'Étalon (1970)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky

Film Review

L'Étalon starts out from quite a decent premise but rather than deliver the anticipated caustic assault on the consumer society Jean-Pierre Mocky merely serves up a rambling unfunny comedy that is unceasingly crass and infantile.  In the last of the four comedies that he made with Mocky, Bourvil looks distinctly worse for wear - not surprisingly, as he was seriously ill whilst making the film and died just seven months after the film's original release in February 1970.  Although Mocky credits the idea for the film to Bourvil, the actor was reluctant to appear in it and did so only to allay fears that he was at death's door (which he was).  To share the comedy burden, another comedy heavyweight was drafted in - Francis Blanche - but even this is not enough to relieve the tedium of a film that is short on ideas and mostly repeats the same handful of tacky gags ad nauseum.  Only the sight of Michel Lonsdale in drag makes the film worth watching.  If you want to see Bourvil at his best in a Jean-Pierre Mocky film you'd be better off watching Un drôle de paroissien (1963) and La Grande frousse (1964).

Film Synopsis

William Chaminade would hardly have thought of himself as a great benefactor of the female sex, but this is what he becomes, thanks to a chance incident during his well-deserved holiday in the south of France.  It begins when this mild-mannered vet witnesses a young woman's attempt to commit suicide by throwing herself out of an upstairs window in the hotel where he is dining.  The woman's life is saved by a muscular athlete named Lionel, who just happens to be there to break her fall.  She explains that she was driven to this desperate act by her neglectful husband, who no longer shows her any interest.  It is then that Chaminade has his revolutionary brainwave.

All over France, there must hundreds, possibly thousands of women who are in a similar state, driven to suicidal despair because their husbands are unable or unwilling to satisfy their romantic needs.  Chaminade has the solution: he will offer a special service where a stud - namely Lionel - will be provided to give these unfortunate women the attentions they so desperately crave.  And what is more, the service will be free, paid for by the state!  The idea turns out to be a runaway success, and Chaminade has no end of women clients willing to avail themselves of his highly innovative form of recreational therapy.

Our hero soon runs into difficulty, however, when an over-eager tax inspector named Dupuis shows up and starts showing too keen an interest in Chaminade's highly lucrative business venture.  Before he knows it, the former vet is being hounded by a police superintendent and the husbands of all of the wives he has been sedulously treating.  In the face of mounting opposition, it seems that Chaminade's enterprise is doomed to failure, but an unexpected sudden change in the law comes to his rescue.  By attending to the needs of both husbands and wives, Chaminade discovers a way to make conjugal disunity a thing of the past...