Les Hommes préfèrent les grosses (1981)
Directed by Jean-Marie Poiré

Film Review

It wasn't until his third feature that director Jean-Marie Poiré showed his penchant for the kind of popular comedy that would create a stampede to the box office and have American film producers beating a path to his door to grab the rights to a remake. Along with similar recent comedies like Les Bronzés (1978), Les Hommes préfèrent les grosses sounded the death knell for the frankly puerile kind of comedy that had been dominant in French cinema in the 1970s and ushered in an era of more grown-up humour spawned by the café-théâtre phenomenon. The successful troupe Le Splendid was instrumental in this 'maturation' of French comedy in the late 1970s, early 1980s, and it was by hooking up with this team that Poiré found his feet as a comedy director.

Not only does the film feature several members or close associates of the Splendid team - Josiane Balasko, Thierry Lhermitte, Dominique Lavanant, Martin Lamotte - it was also co-authored by Balasko, in fact it was based on a play she had written entitled Bunny's Bar. A member of an earlier highly popular comedy team, Les Charlots, also appears in the film, namely Luis Rego. The madcap situations, daft visual gags and over-the-top characterisation all go to make this third Poiré offering a comedy delight. Admittedly, the film is less rip-roaringly funny than the director's subsequent hits - Le Père Noël est une ordure  (1982), Les Visiteurs (1993) - but the humour-drenched script and hilarious performances (Balasko is particularly on fine form) make it an irresistible romp.

Film Synopsis

When her fiancé walks out on her, the frumpish Lydie has no choice but to find a flat mate to share her expensive apartment.  Her plan is to find someone who is even less physically attractive than she is, to give her a chance of finding another man.  The scheme backfires when the ugly woman who originally agrees to share her flat drops out and suggests a replacement: an attractive model named Eva.  The latter has no difficulty  attracting men, much to the chagrin of an increasingly distraught Lydia…