Le Tracassin (1961)
Directed by Alex Joffé

Film Review

Immediately after their successful collaboration on the wartime comedy-drama Fortunat, director Alex Joffé and actor Bourvil linked up for an altogether different kind of film, one that derives as much humour as possible from the stresses and strains of modern living in Paris.  Loosely plotted, the film looks as if it may have been conceived by Jacques Tati as it consists of a rapid succession of comic situations in which the central character (a modest, everyman type) is subjected to one humiliating disaster after another.  Of course, Alex Joffé is no Jacques Tati and it goes without saying that Le Tracassin lacks Tati's unrivalled finesse.  Overlong by at least twenty minutes, the film becomes repetitive and a tad saccharine but, thanks to Bourvil's amiable presence and an abundance of imaginative sight gags, there is scarcely a dull moment.  The laughs just keep piling up.

'Tracassin' is an archaic French word which translates as 'bother' or 'worry' - an apt title for a film which reminds us of the less romantic side of Paris, the constant rush and stress, the nightmare of finding a parking space during rushhour and the constant threat posed by ticket-brandishing traffic police officers (who look as if they may have once been gainfully employed by the SS).  To make room in his shoebox apartment, the hero's bed doubles as a coffee table, not that he need bother as he seems to spend most of his time stuck in traffic jams in his 2CV, along with every other Parisian.  The following year, Pierre Étaix would cover the same ground, to even greater comic effect, in his acclaimed short film Heureux anniversaire (1962).  Watching these two films in succession is enough to put you off wanting to visit Paris for life. After this, Bourvil and Joffé would work together on another wartime comedy-drama Les Culottes rouges (1962) and two lively comedies: La Grosse caisse (1965) and Les Cracks (1968).

Film Synopsis

André Loriot works at the Psycho-Chemistry Laboratories in Paris, a company whose slogan 'A good mood makes for good health' is borne out by the success of the firm's anti-stress pill.  One day, André finds that he could make good use of such a pill.  Having overslept, he makes a poor impression on the woman he is planning to swap his apartment with and then ends up stuck in a traffic jam.  Arriving late for work, André is instructed by his boss to take any calls from his wife while he is out entertaining a female acquaintance.  Just when André is getting into his stride, he falls out with his girlfriend Juliette over a silly misunderstanding and incurs his boss's wrath further by ferrying a pregnant woman to the hospital.  The final blow comes when André learns that to obtain his dream apartment he must put up a large sum of cash that he does not have.  The only solution is to resort to a little blackmail.  Before he can confront his two-timing boss, André must take one of his company's famous pills - with disastrous results...