Film Review
A film that looks as if it was written exclusively for Louis de Funes - indeed,
it is difficult to imagine anyone else playing his role in this film -
Sur un
arbre perché is a typical early 1970s tongue-in-cheek satirical comedy.
Although there are a few intensely funny moments, the limitations of setting a story in
a car on a tree are all too evident. It really does look as if the script writer
had to work very hard to get any humour out of the situation after the first half an hour.
However, after a brief lull of inertia towards its middle point, the film manages to bounce
back with an entertaining satire of the attitudes of French police and the media when
handling this kind of situation. The television people are out in force, filming
the rescue with the artificial hyped-up enthusiasm of a live game show. Meanwhile,
the jealous husband of the woman in the stranded car does everything he can to thwart
the rescue attempt, whilst the police stand about convinced that there is nothing that
can be done… Thirty years on and the satire is still spot on.
Plus
ça change...
Strangely, the best part of this film is the opening credits, where a cartoon Louis de
Funes performs unspeakable antics as cast and crew are credited. You spend the first
ten minutes of the film wondering what drugs the designer could have been on at the time...
© James Travers 2000
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Serge Korber film:
Les Feux de la chandeleur (1972)
Film Synopsis
The ruthless industrialist Henri Roubier could not be happier. He has
just signed a contract for a major road construction project with an Italian,
Mazzini, and stands to make himself a small fortune. His good mood
doesn't last long however. Caught in a traffic jam, he ends up reluctantly
giving a lift to a hitch-hiker and a young woman whose car has just broken
down. Buoyed up by his latest business deal, Roubier doesn't let these
minor upsets get him down. But then disaster strikes. To make
up for lost time, he puts his foot down on the accelerator, misses a turn
in the road and goes careering over the edge of a precipice.
Roubier and his passengers would doubtless have been smashed to pieces if
they hadn't had the good fortune to land on top of a conveniently situated
pine tree. This miraculous stroke of good fortune doesn't cheer Roubier
for long, however. The tree is perched perilously on the side of a
cliff, and below them is a drop of several hundred metres. For the
time being, Roubier and his passengers can see no way out of their present
predicament. They are stranded in a car on top of a tree, knowing that
the slightest movement may be sufficient to send them tumbling to their doom
on the rocks below...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.