Le Distrait (1970)
Directed by Pierre Richard

Film Review

Le Distrait was Pierre Richard's first important film, the one which made him a household name in France and established a comedy persona that would delight cinema audiences for the next decade and a half.  Prior to this, Richard had distinguished himself in supporting roles in a handful of films - most notably Yves Robert's Alexandre le bienheureux (1968) - but this was his big break-through.  Richard not only stars in the film, he also directed it and co-authored the script, basing the main protagonist on the absent-minded character Ménalque from Jean de La Bruyère's 17th century satire Caractères.  Le Distrait attracted an audience of 1.4 million in France and was one of the most popular films of 1970.  Through the success of this film and others in the same vein, including the hit Le Grand blond avec une chaussure noire (1972), Pierre Richard rapidly became one of the leading French comic actors of the decade, and one of the very select few to find fame outside his native France.

Le Distrait is the quintessential Pierre Richard film.  It doesn't have much in the way of a plot and essentially it just consists of a series of loosely connected comic escapades, which clearly take their inspiration from the era of silent comedy.  The spirits of Mack Sennett and Buster Keaton can be felt throughout the film as Richard happily plunders their gags and technique, reworking these to suit his own distinctive comic approach.  Pierre Richard's comedy persona was the original Mr Bean, admittedly far more human and likeable than the Rowan Atkinson grotesque, but just as ill-fated and accident prone.  Richard's star burned brightly for a while but was all but extinguished by the mid-1980s, when his brand of inoffensive slapstick suddenly went out of fashion and tacky vulgarity took over.

Pierre Richard's glory years may be long behind him, but he maintains a visible presence in French cinema and is still considered something of a cult figure in France.  Films like Le Distrait continue to have a hugely broad appeal, so evocative of the era in which they were made and yet so ineffably daft and vibrant that they also have a timeless quality.  Aided and abetted by the incomparable Bernard Blier (the unassailable godfather of French comedy) and the stunning Marie-Christine Barrault, Pierre Richard turns in one of his craziest, slickest and most enjoyable films, a genuine classic of French comedy.

Film Synopsis

Pierre Malaquet is a likeable young man but he is hopelessly absent-minded and cannot sustain a train of thought for more than a few seconds.  Despite this affliction, Pierre is confident he can make a name for himself in the sphere of advertising and it is with unbridled enthusiasm that he begins working for Alexandre Guiton, one of France's leading advertising executives.  Pierre does not know that Guiton only gave him the job to please his mistress, Glycia, who happens to be Pierre's mother.  It soon becomes apparent that Pierre is not well-suited for the career he has chosen.  Most of his branding ideas revolve around death and extreme human suffering, a novel approach but one which has yet to gain public approval.  When Pierre creates havoc at a house party given by Guiton's most important client, his boss banishes him to a basement room where he can do no further harm, or so he thinks.  Mr Klerdene, a customer who is even more scatterbrained than Pierre, ends up in the same room, mistaking it for Guiton's office.  Klerdene offers Pierre a contract to promote his new brand of toothpaste and Pierre has an idea for a totally new form of advertising involving ordinary people in the street.  When the approach proves successful the first time round, Pierre tries it again, promoting a brand of bags for plastic bags by getting people to break eggs over each other's heads.   Pierre's next ghoulish idea for a television commercial is far less successful, however...