Tandem (1987)
Directed by Patrice Leconte

Film Review

By the time he came to direct Tandem, his eighth full-length film, director Patrice Leconte already had a string of box office hits under his belt, mainstream comedies that included Les Bronzés (1978), Viens chez moi, j'habite chez une copine (1981) and Les Spécialistes (1985).  Popular though his films were with the French cinema-going public, Leconte had yet to find favour with the critics.  Tandem was to change all that, a far more adult kind of comedy that won its director widespread critical acclaim and anticipated his subsequent great auteur films, such as Monsieur Hire (1989) and Le Mari de la coiffeuse (1990).  The film was not only a critical and commercial success, it was also nominated for six Césars in 1988, although it faced stiff competition from Louis Malle's Au revoir les enfants and walked away with the most derisory of consolation prizes, an award for its poster design. 

For this distinctly Gallic conflation of traditional road movie and buddy movie, Leconte cast one of the stars of his earlier Bronzés hits, Gérard Jugnot, alongside one of the giants of French cinema, Jean Rochefort, who had previously starred in the director's badly received debut feature, Les Vécés étaient fermés de l'intérieur (1976).  It is a chalk-and-cheese pairing that works far better than you might expect, mainly because Jugnot foregoes his usual comedy histrionics and turns in a far more measured and subtle performance.  With the lead actors looking uncannily like a 20th century equivalent of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, trundling up and down the highways and byways of France like a pair of Trivial Pursuit samurai, it is tempting to think that Terry Gilliam may have been inspired by this film to cast Rochefort as Quixote in his aborted The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. 

Rochefort's character was in fact based on Lucien Jeunesse, the host of the long-running French radio game show Le Jeu des 1000 francs from 1965 to 1995 (the show still airs on France Inter every weekday under the title Le Jeu des 1000 euros).  Jeunesse dismissed Rochefort's portrayal as caricatured but it is in fact a harrowingly true-to-life character study of a man for whom celebrity has become the most destructive kind of drug.  As Mortez and his dogsbody assistant wend their way up and down France's motorways, checking into dreary hotels in nondescript towns, we cannot help but be struck and moved by the tragic emptiness of both their lives.  Derelicts in a world from which they appear permanently estranged, the only thing they possess that is of any real value is their grudging friendship - nothing else seems to matter.  The fame that Mortez enjoys is a hollow prize that exposes the aching void that lies within the brittle shell of our precious celebrity culture.

With Leconte showing far greater restraint in both his writing and direction than we might expect, Tandem has an understated elegance and sincerity that puts some of his grander, more flamboyant films to shame.  There are some humorous asides along the way, but for once Leconte is happy to downplay the humour and focus on character, allowing his two immensely talented lead actors to take control and enrich the film with their nuanced and engaging portrayals of two inordinately complex individuals.  The film does occasionally veer dangerously close towards pathos, but whenever it does so we can always rely on Jugnot and Rochefort to prevent it from tumbling into the abyss.  Lacking the laboured, self-conscious stylisation of Leconte's subsequent critical successes, Tandem has a mix of authenticity and lyrical simplicity that sets it apart.  A hauntingly melancholic study in solitude and the need for companionship, this is assuredly one of the director's most accomplished and insightful works.

Film Synopsis

For the past 25 years, Michel Mortez has hosted the popular radio game show The Cat's Tongue.  Over that time, the show has become the most important thing in Mortez's life and now, in the twilight of his career, he has neither friends nor family.  Mortez is a household name, but he is contemptuous of his public and is increasingly intolerant of their eccentricities.  He would be completely alone were it not for his obliging chauffeur, assistant and handyman Bernard Rivetot, who sticks to him like a seal pup to its mother.  It is a strange relationship that the two men enjoy, part father and son, part master and servant.  Rivetot's principal duty is to feed his employer's pride as they travel from town to town looking for willing contestants for Mortez's legendary show. Then, one day, Bernard is horrified to learn that the owners of the radio channel have decided to cancel his master's programme.  Anxious over how Mortez will react to this news, he does all he can to conceal it from him...