Clara et les chics types (1981)
Directed by Jacques Monnet

Film Review

Clara et les chics types is one of the more serious comedies featuring the talented café-théâtre ensemble, Le Splendid, a thoughtful portrayal of a group of friends finding it hard to assume the responsibilities of adulthood as they cling to their adolescent dreams and habits.  Compared with the team's more boisterous and light-hearted comedies - such as Les Bronzés (1978) and Le Père Noël est une ordure (1982) - this one is surprisingly melancholic and, thanks to Jean-Loup Dabadie's screenwriting efforts, far more true to life.  By this time, several members of the troupe - in particular Thierry Lhermitte and Josiane Balasko - were starting to show some promise as serious dramatic actors and their performances add to the film's authenticity.

This was the first of half a dozen films directed by Jacques Monnet, his later work including Signes extérieurs de richesse (1983) and La Femme du cosmonaute (1997).  Replacing some members of Le Splendid who are conspicuous by their absence are some other rising stars - Roland Giraud, Daniel Auteuil and Isabelle Adjani.  Auteuil gets the bulk of the laughs as a cowardly trainee police officer, although Thierry Lhermitte's attempt to imitate Spiderman is the most memorable of the film's comic digressions.  Clara et les chics types has no pretensions of being a great film or even a great comedy, but it still manages to be an engaging piece which reflects honestly on the mellow transition from youth to middle-age.

Film Synopsis

Six friends from Grenoble with a shared love of music have formed a rock band called Les Why Notes.  Bertrand, Mickey, Frédéric, Charles, Aimée and Louise are all in their late twenties but seem reluctant or incapable of putting their adolescence behind them.  They are on their way to Paris to perform at a concert during a school reunion when Bertrand notices an attractive young woman named Clara.  Convinced that he has at last found his true soul mate, Bertrand goes chasing after Clara, and risks his life trying to climb up the side of a tall building to get to her.  Mickey, a trainee cop, tries to act as a go-between but ends up sleeping with Clara...