Film Review
Georges Feydeau's 1896 farce
Le
Dindon (a.k.a.
The Turkey)
wears its age well in this lively screen adaptation, the first film
that Claude Barma directed for the cinema. Barma is far better
known for his pioneering television work and has the distinction of
directing French television's first live broadcast in 1950 - Marivaux's
play
Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard.
It was also Barma, not Jean-Luc Godard, who introduced Jean-Paul
Belmondo to the French public in his first starring role, as D'Artagnan
in a television production of
Les
Trois Mousquetaires, some months before
À bout de souffle (1960)
was released.
Faithful to Feydeau's original play,
Le Dindon is effectively a piece of filmed theatre that might
well have been made for television, but so spirited are the
performances, and so slick is Barma's mise-en-scène, that you'd
hardly consider this a shortcoming. Denise Provence, Jacques
Charon and Jacques Morel are all excellent in the principal roles,
performing Feydeau's belle époque farce with the gusto it
merits, and there's no shortage of verve in the supporting cast.
Pierre Larquey gives great value in a minor role, and for once he is
not the film's biggest scene stealer. That honour goes to the
then virtually unknown Louis de Funès, who, in just a few short
scenes, shows his star potential as an unctuous and malicious hotel
manager who might well have been the model for Basil Fawlty. The
humour reaches a dizzying crescendo when Louis Seigner and Jane Marken
show up for which is possibly the funniest scene in Feydeau's entire
oeuvre - a trap to expose an unfaithful husband that goes hilariously
awry.
Le Dindon is a
comedy delight that compares well with other Feydeau adaptations of the
late 1940s, early '50s - Willy Rozier's
Monsieur Chasse (1947), Claude
Autant-Lara's
Occupe-toi d'Amélie
(1949) and Marcel Aboulker's
La Dame
de chez Maxim (1950).
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Paris, in the 1890s. Monsieur Pontagnac, an inveterate womaniser,
is making overtures to Lucienne when her husband Vatelin appears
unexpectedly. Luckily, Vatelin is an old friend of Pontagnac, so
the matter is amicably resolved - at least it is until Maggy, a former
mistress of Vatelin, turns up out of the blue. Pontagnac takes
advantage of this to persuade Lucienne to leave her husband, but first
he needs to furnish his mistress with cast iron proof of her husband's
infidelity. A perfect opportunity arises when Vatelin and Maggy
check into a hotel...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.