Salut l'artiste (1973)
Directed by Yves Robert

Film Review

This bittersweet comedy-drama from Yves Robert offers a sobering portrait of the fragmented lifestyle of an unsuccessful actor, played with great sensitivity and conviction by leading Italian actor, Marcello Mastroianni .  It is difficult not to be moved by the sense of frustration, loneliness, insecurity and lack of fulfilment that Mastroianni's character experiences whilst in pursuit of his art in this film.

Although the film is intended as a comedy, and there are some exceptionally funny moments in the film (such as the grand opening sequence at Versailles leading up to Louis XVI on the telephone), it is its prevailing sense of melancholy which is most memorable.  The film could have been about any character failing in any career.  The fact that it is about an actor, in what most people consider to be the most glamorous of professions, makes the film particularly poignant, and the quality of Mastroianni's performance makes it doubly so.

Film Synopsis

Like many in his profession, Nicolas Montei dreams of making the big time as an actor but he has to content himself with whatever bit parts he can grab for himself in his never-ending struggle to make ends meet.  He knows his talents are wasted in tacky television commercials, cabaret spots and voiceover work for kid's cartoons, but whilst waiting for his big break to turn up this is what he has to content himself with.  His private life is proving to be as big a disaster as his professional life.  His wife Élisabeth has given up on him, his son Rodrigue is turning into a petty criminal, and even his mistress Peggy is proving to be a disappointment.  Having left his wife for his mistress Nicolas is none too pleased when Peggy tells him she no longer has any feelings for him.  And when Nicolas returns to Élisabeth, he finds that she is pregnant by another man, a passing Canadian.  The one person Nicolas thought he could rely on, his best friend Clément, lets him down by giving up acting altogether and finding work as a manager for a supermarket chain.  Nicolas wonders if his life will ever amount to anything...