Ces messieurs de la famille
1967 Comedy
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Credits
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Summary
Gabriel Pelletier is the commercial director of a company that has a
precarious future unless it can secure a partnership with Eric
Strumberger, a wealthy American industrialist.
Gabriel’s boss insists that he make a positive impression on
Strumberger by inviting him to stay in his house. There is
just one problem with this plan. Strumberger is a man of the most
puritanical tastes and morals, whereas Gabriel’s family is, to put it
mildly, a wayward bunch. His brother is an eccentric filmmaker
with a taste for young women, his brother-in-law is an inveterate Don
Juan with at least a dozen mistresses, and his daughter is the biggest
worry of them all. Sure enough, it isn’t long before Strumberger
becomes acquainted with the colourful underside of the Parisian bourgeoisie...
Review
This insipid comedy is salvaged by its exceptional cast - which
includes such star performers as Michel Serrault, Francis Blanche,
Michel Galabru and Jean Yanne. This spectacular ensemble of
talent somehow makes up for the ramshackle plot, uninspired direction
and horribly contrived comic situations, the result being a mildly
entertaining, but not particularly memorable, light comedy.
The main attraction is Francis Blanche’s truly bizarre portrayal of an
Americanised German, looking and sounding like a comic book caricature
of the great actor-director Eric von Stroheim. Meanwhile, Darry
Cowl's character, an avant-garde filmmaker whose work no one
understands, has some obvious similarities with French New Wave
director Jean-Luc Godard. One other very famous actor
turns up right at the end of the film, but you have to watch the
film to see who that is, because his appearance is probably the
best laugh on offer.
© James Travers 2008 Write a review for this film... |
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