Les Galettes de Pont-Aven (1975)
Directed by Joël Séria

Film Review

Helped in no small measure by the burgeoning sexual revolution and sudden relaxation of censorship rules, the  mid-1970s saw something of an iconoclastic flush in cinema throughout most of the western world, but particularly in France.  The furore surrounding Just Jaeckin's Emmanuelle (1974), which provoked a national debate over its graphic sexual content, opened the doors to more explicit depictions of sexuality in French cinema.  Les controversial, Bertrand Blier's Les Valseuses (1974) and Joël Séria's Les Galettes de Pont-Aven (1975) did even more to foster this libertarian trend that served to erode the already fuzzy boundary between mainstream cinema and softcore pornography.

Like Blier, Séria was one of the decade's most inveterate iconoclasts.  His directorial debut feature, Mais ne nous délivrez pas du mal (1970), was so shocking in both its subject matter and depiction of physical violence, that it was banned by the state censor.  Les Galettes de Pont-Aven was somewhat less provoking but it still broke plenty of the old rules and ruffled more than a few feathers with its unapologetically lubricious portrayal of a middle-aged man (Jean-Pierre Marielle in a career-defining role) driven to excesses of delight and despair by his untameable carnal impulses.

Les Galettes de Pont-Aven feels like a mischievous Gallic reworking of the famous Somerset Maugham story The Moon and Sixpence, in which the central protagonist succumbs to his yearning to become a great artist and subsequently experiences something of a transcendent rebirth through the blistering sensuality of his art.  Jean-Pierre Marielle brilliantly conveys the turmoil of inner forces that completely take over his character and drive him to the extremes of passion when he embarks on his new life as a latter-day Gauguin.  No wonder the actor was nominated for a César - this is the best tragicomic performance of his career.

The director's wife, Jeanne Goupil, not only plays Marielle's seductive muse, she also provided the distinctive canvases for the film, being something of a talented artist herself.   Claude Piéplu and Dominique Lavanant also make memorable comic contributions, the latter briefly stealing the film as a prostitute arrayed in traditional Breton dress.  Joël Séria became something of a cult filmmaker on the back of this saucy sex comedy, but his subsequent cinematic achievements were few and far between.  He lived up to his easily won 'bad boy' reputation with Marie-poupée (1976), a foray into out-and-out fetishism, but subsequently faded more or less from view, contenting himself with such lowbrow fare as Les Deux Crocodiles (1987), in which he once again teamed up with Marielle, with somewhat less successful results.

Film Synopsis

Peacefully nestled in the Loire Valley in the west of France is the picturesque town of Samur.  This is home to Henri Serin, a modest umbrella salesman who devotes his free time to his two main pleasures in life - women and painting.  It is through his artistic and romantic proclivities that he finds a welcome release from his far from happy domestic situation, shackled as he is to a prudish wife who shows not the slightest inclination to participate in his wild flights of fancy.  One auspicious day, his car breaks down and he has little choice but to accept a lift from a stranger.  The latter, a poet, invites him to spend the night with him at his home.  As his car is being repaired, Henri makes the most of his enforced sojourn in the idyllic village of Pont-Aven to get to know the locals, and is surprised how easily he manages to settle in this unfamiliar district.

It was surely the hand of Providence that guided him to this sun-kissed sanctuary, which offers so much scope for personal fulfilment and happiness.  This is the time when Henri realises that he must give up both his day job and his straitlaced wife and begin a new life, devoting himself fully to the life of an artist.  He has one ambition - to capture on canvas the indefinable beauty of the feminine form, with all its mystical and erotic powers.   Alas, Henri is far to susceptible to the women he seeks to immortalise and his obsession drives him to drink, with disastrous consequences for his artistic ambitions.  Just when all appears lost a stunning young woman named Marie enters his life and he has a new burst of inspiration...