Le Pari
1997 Comedy   
 
  • Director: Didier Bourdon, Bernard Campan
  • Script: Didier Bourdon, Bernard Campan
  • Photo: Manuel Teran
  • Music: Laurent Bertaud
  • Cast: Didier Bourdon (Didier), Bernard Campan (Bernard), Isabelle Ferron (Murielle), Isabel Otero (Victoria), Hélène Surgère (Mme Ramirez), Roger Ibanez (Vincente Ramirez), Kelly Lawson (Elodie), François Berléand (Docteur Bricourt), François Du Merle (Hobo), Matthew Geczy (Michael), Daniel Isoppo (Gérard), Martine Lang (Madeleine Bricourt), Régis Laspalès (Gilbert), Marie-Laurence (Mme de Luynes), Théo Légitimus (M. Léopold)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 100 min
  • Aka: The Bet
 
 
 
Summary
Didier and Bernard are two men who appear to have nothing in common, other than the fact they are married to women who are sisters.  Didier is a successful pharmacist with middle class pretensions; Bernard is a down-at-heel teacher in a rough high school.  The one thing that does unite them is their love for tobacco.  Their stepfather has the same failing, and it is ruining his health.  To encourage the latter to give up his fatal addiction, Didier and Bernard agree to a bet - to give up cigarettes for a fortnight.  At first, both men are amazed by how easy it is to stop smoking.  However, within a few days, both Didier and Bernard are near breaking point, and so are their marriages...

Review
Encouraged by the success of their first film, Les Trois frères (1995), Didier Bourdon and Bernard Campan tried their luck once more, this time without the third member of their team (Les Inconnus), Pascal Légitimus.  Le Pari is the result, a quirky but not wholly satisfactory comedy in which Bourdon and Campan are clearly having more fun than the spectator.  The problem with the film is that it quickly departs from its central premise and becomes a rather haphazard comedy, lacking any clear narrative sense.  Admittedly, some of the comic situations work well, but the confused plot and drawn out ending are flaws which are hard to overlook.

© James Travers 2006


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