Les Randonneurs (1997)
Directed by Philippe Harel

Film Review

It was with his third feature, Les Randonneurs, that Philippe Harel made his name as a film director, even though he had been making films for almost two decades before this (mostly shorts).  His first two full-length films - Un été sans histoires (1992) and L'Histoire du garçon qui voulait qu'on l'embrasse (1994) - tackle the complications of love affairs in a somewhat less light-hearted vein but are just as watchable.  Harel's third cinematic offering, an amusing romantically spiced up ramble along the famous GR20 hiking route in Corsica, proved to be a big hit with critics and audience, the film attracting an impressive 1.4 million spectators on its first release in 1997.  Much of the film's appeal is down to the talented ensemble that Harel persuaded to accompany him on his perilous Corsican trek, a likeable troupe headed by the popular Belgian comedian Benoît Poelvoorde.

Poelvoorde wasn't yet the huge star he was destined to become within a few years, but he had acquired a certain notoriety on the back of his shocking 1992 black comedy, C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992), which he co-directed with Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel.  A decade and half after this highly provocative debut, he would enjoy the status of the French-speaking world's most popular comic actor.  Les Randonneurs played a significant part in the establishment of Poelvoorde as a familiar face in French cinema.  Harel's main achievement on the film was in reining in the hyper-charismatic actor's comic excesses so that he doesn't get to hog the limelight but instead works well within an odd-ball ensemble.  His character - a womanising tour guide - is by far the most entertaining member of the group but he doesn't entirely monopolise our attention, as Poelvoorde tended to do on his previous films.

The Belgian actor fits incredibly well within a well-balanced team that includes such equally capable performers as Karin Viard, Vincent Elbaz and Géraldine Pailhas, with Harel himself showing up as the group's introverted neurotic, a type he is best-suited to as an actor.  The lush Corsican landscape, beautifully photographed by Gilles Henry, adds greatly to Les Randonneurs's appeal and provides a suitably dramatic backdrop for the personal dramas and comical misunderstandings being played out within the increasingly fraught group of first-time trekers.  The cast make the most of an astute script that offers both an abundance of comic situations and thoughtful observations on male-female relationships.  Harel's direction is more restrained than is apparent on some of his subsequent films, although there are some bold and inspired touches, such as the hilarious 'silent' sequence that parodies how men and women relate to one another in the late 20th century.

An effective hybrid of the ensemble comedy and modern road-movie, Philippe Harel's film is both entertaining and true to life, and the writer-director would have a hard time coming up with a comparable success in his future career.  His subsequent collaboration with Poelvoorde - Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert (2001) - provides an amusing commentary on the world of cycling, whilst his 1999 film Extension du domaine de la lutte offers a thoughtful and original delve into the trauma of mid-life crisis.  The success of Les Randonneurs is presumably what motivated Harel to attempt a sequel with the same principal cast - Les Randonneurs à Saint-Tropez (2008) - although this time round the group magic had gone off the boil and the film struggled to attract a quarter of the audience of the original.

Film Synopsis

Five 30-something friends decide to take a break from their busy Parisian lives and head off on an arduous walking tour in the beautiful mountains of Corsica. Their complicated love-lives follow them in what proves to be an increasingly fraught nightmare of a holiday.  Louis is anxious about walking out on his latest girlfriend, while Cora, the one who is least suited for a long mountain hike, is constantly hankering after Mr Right. Nadine thinks she has found her beau idéal in Éric, their practically minded but somewhat pompous guide, but will he give up his wife and family for her?  Mathieu, meanwhile, has no interest in a long-term relationship but appears to have no problem picking up the chicks.  If the five friends weren't traumatised and in need of long-term therapy at the start of their holiday, they probably will be if they ever get to the end of it.