Credits
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Summary
When his wife is killed in a car accident, wealthy banker René Duchesne decides
to drown himself in the Seine. He changes his mind at the last moment when his former
housemaid Suzanne (who now works as a prostitute) informs him that his wife was having
an affair. Instead of killing himself, René opts instead to start a new life,
creating a new identity for himself. First he teams up with a group of crooks to
raid the safe in his family home, thereby depriving his greedy in-laws of his wealth.
Then, he engages himself as valet to a family of nouveaux riches, with Suzanne, now his
adopted daughter, working as a chambermaid. René soon discovers that
the life of a domestic servant is far more demanding than that of a banker...
Review
Following his impressive 1957 adaptation of Les
Misérables, Jean-Paul Le Chanois subsequently worked with Jean Gabin on
two further films, Monsieur (1964) and Le
Jardinier d’Argenteuil (1965). Both of these films are comic farces – of
the kind that were much beloved by French cinema audiences at the time – and both feature
Gabin in a gentle comic role which makes a marked contrast to the tough screen persona
he had created for himself in the 1950s and 1960s. Although Gabin generally appears
far less at ease in this kind of film than in straight dramas or policiers, in Monsieur
he gives a pleasing performance, playing, for once, a genuinely likeable character,
albeit one with a rough edge.
Monsieur is arguably the most satisfying of Gabin’s comic films, mainly on account of its impressive cast which, in addition to the superlative Gabin, offers an array of acting talent. Mireille Darc, a very popular actress at the time, makes the perfect companion to Gabin’s character; Philippe Noiret and Liselotte Pulver delight as the classical bourgeois couple, complete with nauseating grown-up children and a venomous grandmother (one of Gaby Morlay’s best creations); Gabrielle Dorziat and Henri Crémieux make an impressive double act as the money grasping in-laws; the delightful Andrex leads a band of inept burglars in a sequence which makes a titillating parody of the gangster genre; and that scarcely describes half of what the film has to offer. Although Monsieur fails to match up to the quality of Le Chanois’ earlier works, it does have great entertainment value, thanks to its very witty dialogue and a pleasing string of comic situations. It is interesting to note that acclaimed director Claude Sautet worked on the film’s script – one of his lesser known credits, and one which is easily overlooked in the light of his subsequent cinematic achievements. © James Travers 2004 Write a review for this film... User Comments
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