Film Review
As has been demonstrated many times over the past decade or so, adapting
a popular comic book for cinema can be a hit and miss affair. When
inspiration strikes, success is assured -
Astérix et
Obélix: Mission Cleopatra (2002),
Le Petit Nicolas (2009) and
Sur la piste du Marsupilami
(2012) all found the winning formula and proved to be box office winners.
But when the Muse takes a day off, the result is inevitably a grisly misfire
-
Les Vacances de Ducobu
(2012) and
Boule et Bill (2013) speak the truth of this all too loudly.
Raoul Taburin is the latest in a mushrooming catalogue of adaptations of classic
francophone
bande dessinées, based on a popular work by the
esteemed graphic artist Sempé that first appeared in 1995.
Sempé's most celebrated creation is
Le Petit Nicolas, and despite
the film's immense success at the box office, he was reputedly unimpressed
by Laurent Tirard's adaptation. He appears to be more favourably disposed
towards the movie version of
Raoul Taburin, which he reckons is much
closer in spirit to the original comic book. The film was directed
by Pierre Godeau, his third feature after
Juliette (2013) and
Éperdument
(2016). Attractively filmed in Drôme, a picturesque spot in southeast
France, and with ever-popular performers Benoît Poelvoorde and Edouard
Baer taking the lead roles, the film would seem to have all that it needs
to appeal to a mainstream audience.
Unlike most other comic book adaptations,
Raoul Taburin is a film
that persistently refuses to exchange the childlike charm of its source for
the kind of puerile comic excess that has plagued French film comedy for
the past decade. As a result, it has an unashamed innocence that will
appeal as much to grown-ups as it undoubtedly will to youngsters, making
it ideal for family viewing. In a way that is gently evocative of Jacques
Tati's
Jour de fête (1949),
the film lures us into a bygone world that few of us can resist, the ideal
setting for a bucolic fable that positively drips with nostalgia.
The enchanting poetry of the film is well-served by Benoît Poelvoorde,
perfectly at home in a role that feels like an ironic counterpoint to the
one he played so effectively in Philippe Harel's
Le Vélo de Ghislain
Lambert (2001), namely that of a man obsessed with becoming a cycling
champion. Here, Poelvoorde harbours more modest aspirations - being
able to climb onto a bicycle saddle without falling onto his face.
As ever, the actor brings just the right note of poignancy and no shortage
of good-natured humour to his sympathetic portrayal of a tormented soul with
a tragic secret.
Edouard Baer proves to be a delightful complement to Poelvoorde, the kind
of self-serving rogue you can't help warming to, and his amiable presence
helps to prevent the film from becoming to twee and saccharine. By
not going out of its way to be loud and showy, by respecting its source and
extracting the best this has to offer,
Raoul Taburin demonstrates
how a comic book adaptation ought to be undertaken - and the fact that Sempé's
unmistakable art can be seen so readily in it assures us of its authors'
good intentions.
© James Travers 2019
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