Le Garde du corps (1984)
Directed by François Leterrier

Film Review

François Leterrier may have earned his place in cinema history with his arresting lead performance in Robert Bresson's Un condamné à mort s'est échappé (1956) but his subsequent career as a film director is pretty patchy, his early, more worthy cinematic offerings such as Un roi sans divertissement (1963) and Les Mauvais coups (1961) soon giving way to low-grade fare of the level of Good-bye, Emmanuelle (1977). Le Garde du corps is one of the more entertaining mainstream comedies that Leterrier put his name to before he finally abandoned cinema for television in the mid-1980s. Following on from the success of Les Babas Cool (1981) Leterrier joins forces with another member of the popular troupe Splendid - namely Gérard Jugnot - to deliver an even livelier comedy, aided and abetted by Jane Birkin and Sami Frey.

Plotwise, it's a throwback to those over-exuberant nonsense comedies of the 1970s (those that now appear targeted at an audience with an average IQ in single figures), but the three leads give it a touch of class and make up for the silliness that the screenwriters keep lobbing in their direction. Jugnot is, as ever, cast as the sympathetic loser but his everyman presence at least helps to anchor the film in reality whilst Birkin and Frey look hellbent on making this a Feydeau farce - if Frey had been given a moustache it's a fair bet he would have spent most of the film twirling it like any other self-respecting pantomimic villain. A healthy dose of black humour makes up for the uneven narrative and scattergun comedy, although you do end up wondering how anyone who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Robert Bresson, Louis Malle and Yves Allégret could have come to this. Greatness obviously isn't contagious.

Film Synopsis

Through his mother's dating agency, Paul meets Barbara, an attractive English journalist.  Whilst he becomes besotted with her, she has no interest in him and, instead, falls for the charms of another man, Julien.  When he learns that Julien has had two other wives who have both died in suspicious circumstances, Paul becomes anxious for Barbara's safety.  Certain that Julien intends to murder Barbara for her life assurance money, Paul follows the couple on their honeymoon in Morocco.  When he learns that Julien has abandoned his wife in the desert, Paul's worst fears seem to be confirmed.  However, Barbara ignores his warnings, believing he is merely upset by her decision to marry Julien instead of him.  Is Paul imagining things or is Barbara's life really in peril...?