Monsieur Coccinelle (1938)
Directed by Dominique Bernard-Deschamps

Film Review

Monsieur Coccinelle is one of the weirder French comedies of the 1930s.  In fact, it is probably fair to say that there isn't a film like it and for its time it is breathtakingly original.  A zanily anarchic, rampantly anti-bourgeois piece, it stands out from the routine, totally forgettable comedies that were prevalent in French cinema of the 1930s and seems to be the product of a much later era (there's more than a suggestion of Pythonesque madness about it).  Not only is the film deliriously funny, the most virulent assault on the habits and attitudes of the middleclass, it is also endowed with its own unique poetry.  Presumably made on a lowish budget, the production values are not great but what the film lacks in polish it more than makes up for in charm and off-kilter humour.

This is is one of a number of eccentric comedies directed by Dominique Bernard-Deschamps, who previously helmed the original screen adaptation of Le Rosier de Madame Husson, starring Fernandel and Françoise Rosay.  Bernard-Deschamps' other claim to fame is that he worked with the inventor Henri Chrétien on developing a form of widescreen cinema that would ultimately result in the creation of Cinemascope.  One of France's best loved character actors of this period, Pierre Larquey shows a remarkable flair for comedy as the titular M. Coccinelle.  Larquey is best remembered for his role as the creepy Dr Vorzet in H.G. Clouzot's Le Corbeau (1943) but he appeared in over two hundred films, a feat that is all the more remarkable when you consider that his film career did not begin until he was 47.

Among the film's highlights is a hilarious sequence depicting M. Coccinelle's doleful trudge into work and his jubilant return home in the evening.  Then there is the respectful wake following the aunt's death which turns into a frenzied fly-swatting competition, and a superb 'old dark house' parody in which our hero faces untold horrors in the room of the deceased as he attempt to lay his hands on a box containing his aunt's will.  The funniest sequence is when Coccinelle finds himself elevated to the status of a local celebrity after his aunt's death.  The whole town suddenly seems to know who he is and, for the first and probably only time in his mediocre existence, he is seen basking in the warm glow of recognition.  Why, you end up asking yourself, couldn't more French comedies of this period be like this?   Monsieur Coccinelle is a rare delight.

Film Synopsis

Alfred Coccinelle is a humdrum civil servant who leads a humdrum middle class existence with his wife Mélanie and old maiden aunt Aurore.  The latter lives in a dream world, convinced that the man who once promised her undying love, a handsome stage conjurer, will return to her and rescue her from her life of perpetual monotony.  Alas, Aurore dies before her dream can be fulfilled and the Coccinelles find themselves saddled with the cost and trouble of arranging a funeral.  But there is a bright side.  The Coccinelles will inherit their aunt's personal fortune and can look forward to a happier future.  Or so they think...