Film Review
Jacques Dutronc's acting career got off to a flying start in 1973 when
he co-starred alongside François Périer in Jean-Marie
Périer's
Antoine et
Sébastien. By this time, Dutronc was firmly
established as one of France's leading pop musicians, having made a
spectacular breakthrough in 1966 with his hit record
Et moi, et moi, et moi.
Helped by his ultra-smooth persona and saturnine good looks, Dutronc
had no trouble finding his feet as an actor, and it was in his second
film,
OK patron, that his
potential as a major film star became evident. Immediately after
this, the Polish filmmaker Andrzej Zulawski cast him alongside Romy
Schneider in
L'Important c'est d'aimer
(1975), in a role that left no doubt as to Dutronc's talent as an
actor.
Jacques Dutronc not only takes the lead in
OK patron, admirably well-cast in a
fish-out-of-water role as a reluctant gangster boss, he also supplied
the film's catchy music, including its famous theme song
L'Aventurier, which evokes the mood
of the era superbly and was subsequently released as a single.
Dutronc's charismatic presence enlivens what would otherwise have been
a humdrum, formulaic comedy in the
comédie
policière line, a genre that had had its heyday in the
1960s but which was, by the mid-1970s, looking decidedly
démodé and over-worn.
OK patron was directed, with
surprising flair, by first-timer Claude Vital, easily the best of the
handful of pretty nondescript films he made around this time.
Prior to this, Vital had worked as an assistant to Georges Lautner on
some of his most popular films, including such classic comedy-thrillers as
Le Monocle noir (1961),
Les Tontons flingueurs (1963)
and
Ne nous fâchons pas (1966).
Lautner is credited as acting as supervisor on
OK patron, and judging by Vital's
subsequent disappointing output, it looks as if he may have had quite a
large amount of creative input.
If the plot feels at times like reheated leftovers, a distinguished
cast do their best to keep us amused and exorcise the uneasy sense of
déjà-vu that occasionally surfaces. The perfect
complement to Jacques Dutronc, Mireille Darc makes a delectably elegant
gangster's moll, effortlessly proving she can hold her own in a man's
world, getting her way by exercising her feminine charms instead of
resorting to idiotic violence. Another comparative newcomer to
the big screen, Axelle Abbadie makes her mark in another strong female
role, with veteran performer Renée Saint-Cyr completing a
triumvirate of talented actresses playing cool and collected females
who are not remotely phased by the infantile antics of gun-toting
hoodlums. The ever-present Francis Blanche is on hand to lend
some comedy muscle, leading a supporting cast that includes many faces
that will be familiar to any devotee of the French comedy thriller:
André Pousse, Robert Dalban, Paul Préboist, Daniel
Ceccaldi, Dominique Zardi and (in a cameo role) Michel Constantin.
OK patron offers few surprises
and, held back by a lacklustre script, stands no chance of ever
becoming a classic. Tame and predictable it may be, but it still
manages to be a moderately entertaining timewaster, carried by the
likeable ensemble of actors who do their utmost to make it work.
The mise-en-scène shows the occasional inspired flourish as it
humorously references French and American gangster films of the period, most notably
Francis Ford Coppola's
The Godfather, of which this is
a loose parody of sorts. It's definitely not the best film of its
kind, but it's well worth seeing, if only to catch a glimpse of an
implausibly youthful Jacques Dutronc at the start of his long and
illustrious acting career.
© James Travers 2013
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Film Synopsis
When Mario, the head of the French Mafia, is mortally wounded by his
enemies, his mistress Mélissa immediately sets about finding a
successor, unaware that a host of hardened gangsters are poised to take
over his organisation. The man Mélissa selects to replace
Mario is a mild-mannered door-to-door salesman, Léon Bonnet, who
makes a modest living by selling religious crosses. Just as
Léon is about to get married to Sophie, he begins receiving a
series of unexpected parcels through the post - first a consignment of
champagne, then a box filled with firearms. Before he knows what
is happening, Léon is ensconced as the head of France's largest
criminal gang, with a hoard of trigger-happy rivals determined to
unseat him...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.