Film Review
Director Jean-Paul Le Chanois concluded his mostly impressive
work for this cinema with this engaging but somewhat anodyne comedy,
the last of his three collaborations with the iconic screen actor
Jean Gabin.
Previously, Gabin had taken the lead in Le Chanois's
period blockbuster
Les Misérables (1958)
and another light comedy,
Monsieur (1964).
With the actor comfortably into his seventh decade he appears more at home
in this gentle kind of comedy than in the brutal crime dramas that
more often came his way around this time - films such as
Le Pacha (1968)
and
Le Clan des Siciliens (1969).
As well as Gabin, the film features several other prolific actors
in the last leg of their illustrious careers - Noël Roquevert, Jeanne Fusier-Gir,
Alfred Adam, Jean Tissier and Rellys. Thankfully, there are some camera-friendly
youngsters (including the delightful Liselotte Pulver) to prevent this from looking like
an oldsters' reunion. Curd Jürgens is a surprising
addition to the cast (he is not an actor you would expect to show up
in a low-key French comedy) although the main treat is the legendary singer Serge
Gainsbourg in one of his earliest credited screen roles - he also contributed
to the music, as he would subsequently do on
Le Pacha.
Le Jardinier d'Argenteuil is not the most memorable of Gabin's films, but
it allowed the actor to portray a character on screen that was nearer to
his own. The film is effectively a simple anti-consumerist fable that reminds us that
true fulfilment comes from things other than material comfort and the selfish pursuit of pleasure.
© James Travers 2015
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Next Jean-Paul Le Chanois film:
La Vie est à nous (1936)
Film Synopsis
Monsieur Martin, known as Tulipe, is an old man who lives alone in an old railway carriage
in the Argentueil region of Paris. His main passions are gardening and oil painting,
but he also has a secret source of income. His godson discovers that Tulipe is actually
a master forger, producing perfect copies of 10 franc notes. His godson's
girlfriend sees this as an opportunity to get very rich - but she must persuade
Tulipe to forge 500 franc notes. Assuming Tulipe's agreement, his godson and
his girlfriend buy an expensive new car and luxury villa in provincial France - but there
is a cruel turn of fate in store for them when Tulipe strikes up a friendship with a millionaire
playboy…
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.