Film Review
The perils and pratfalls of mid-life crisis have inspired many a successful
French film comedy, but Yves Robert's
Un éléphant ça
trompe énormément is the best of the lot - as funny as
it is astute in its cruel but keen observation of the fallout of the male
menopause, as experienced by a close band of friends. The idea of a story
revolving around male friendship appealed to Robert and had been the subject
of his earlier film
Les Copains (1965). In close collaboration with
a superb cast and a gifted screenwriter Jean-Loup Dabadie (with whom he had
previously worked with on
Clérambard (1969) and
Salut l'artiste (1973)), the
director managed to deliver one of the finest examples of the French buddy
movies (
film des potes).
Having started his career as an actor, Robert turned to directing in the
mid-1950s and notched up quite a few box office triumphs, including
La Guerre des boutons
(1961),
Le
Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire (1972) and his acclaimed 1990
diptych
La Gloire de mon père
/
Le Château de ma mère.
Un éléphant
ça trompe énormément was just one in a series of
hits that turbo-financed Robert's film production company; on its first release
in France, it attracted an impressive audience of 2.8 million.
The following year, Robert, Dabadie and their four principals worked together
on a sequel,
Nous irons tous au paradis (1977), which also met with
massive public acclaim. Since then, many subsequent French screenwriters
and directors have taken inspiration from these films' winning formula, working
it successfully for a contemporary audience - most notably Marc Esposito
with
Le Coeur des hommes
(2003) and its well-received sequels.
Un éléphant ça trompe énormément's
main asset is the irresistible quartet formed by four highly popular actors
of the period: Jean Rochefort, Claude Brasseur, Guy Bedos and Victor Lanoux.
Very different in their personas and acting styles. but all instantly likeable,
these four complement each other perfectly and turn in nuanced performances
that are both true-to-life and hilarious, offering four contrasting yet equally
convincing takes on masculinity in the modern age. Dabadie was familiar
with all of these four actors and so was able to tailor his screenplay to
their own distinctive character quirks, something that adds greatly to the
film's impression of depth and authenticity.
The script is one of Dabadie's best, the tragicomic escapades of the four
protagonists punctuated throughout with spoken and visual gags that can hardly
fail to get a laugh - no wonder the film is considered a classic. The
sequence in which Jean Rochefort takes up horse riding in order to pursue
his amour fou is the stuff of comedy legend, as is the one in which Claude
Brasseur smashes up a restaurant whilst passing himself off as a blind man.
There is even a cheeky reference to Billy Wilder's
The Seven Year Itch, with
Anny Duperey repeating the famous scene in which Marilyn Monroe's skirt is
lifted by a draft from a subway vent.
The film's main claim to fame is that it was the first French film to offer
a positive depiction of a homosexual. For his sympathetic and convincing
portrayal of a 40-something gay man, Claude Brasseur was honoured with the
César for Best Supporting Actor in 1977. The film also received
César nominations in the categories of Best Original Screenplay and
Best Supporting Actress (Anny Duperey).
As happened to a surprising number of French film comedies around this time,
Un éléphant ça trompe énormément
suffered the indignity of a clumsy American remake; needless to say, the
1984 English-language rehash,
The Woman in Red (which Gene Wilder
both directed and starred in), was not a patch on the original.
© James Travers 2022
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Yves Robert film:
Nous irons tous au paradis (1977)
Film Synopsis
Étienne, Simon, Daniel and Bouly are four friends in their forties
who enjoy a shared passion for tennis. Another thing they have in common
is that they are all nearing a point of crisis in their private lives; luckily
they can count on the others' support to help them through. Étienne
would seem to be the most fortunate of the four. He has a cushy ministerial
job, an attractive wife named Marthe, two daughters and a comfortable Parisian
apartment. But Étienne's well-ordered life suddenly goes
off at an unexpected tangent when he catches a glimpse of an alluring young
woman in a bright red dress. From that instant he becomes obsessed
with this object of desire and pursues her obsessively, not knowing that
she is herself married.
Simon, a doctor, is finding his passage through his middle years no less
taxing; a manic hypochondriac, he resents his mother's constant heavy-handed
intrusions into his life. Meanwhile, Daniel, a flamboyant car salesman,
is finding it increasingly difficult to conceal from his friends the fact
that he is a homosexual. Even Bouly, an inveterate Don Juan, has his
life upended when his wife Marie-Ange walks out on him, taking with her the
entire contents of his apartment as she departs. Long gone are the
certainties of youth. What Étienne and his friends now have
to deal with are the fierce lashings of a mid-life tornado...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.