Un singe en hiver (1962)
Directed by Henri Verneuil

Comedy / Drama
aka: It's Hot in Hell

Film Review

Abstract picture representing Un singe en hiver (1962)
Un singe en hiver is a gentle comedy which takes a melancholic view of friendship, nostalgia and drink.  It was based on a popular novel by the French writer Antoine Blondin.   The film's classic status stems mainly from Verneuil's inspired decision to cast Jean Gabin and Jean-Paul Belmondo, the iconic standard-bearers for two different generations of French cinema, in the principal roles.  Gabin and Belmondo play off each other perfectly, their on-screen rapport offering a very visible testimony of their off-screen friendship.  (It is reported that Gabin became an active participant in friendly football matches which Belmondo organised during the location work for this film.)

Where the film is most effective and most poignant is in the way it brings together two very different characters, who, like lost children, forge a friendship that affords them a brief respite from their unsatisfying lives.  Another of the film's pleasures is the deliciously tongue-in-cheek dialogue, provided by one of France cinema's most popular and talented screenwriters, Michel Audiard.

Although it looks a little flat and stagy when compared with the films the New Wave directors of the day were putting out, Un singe en hiver does have its charms.  Brimming with manic energy, the youthful Belmondo brings a touch of anarchy to the film - the scene where he plays bullfighter to some irate motorists in a busy road offers a hint of the kind of madcap stunts which would earn him his reputation.  Gabin's professionalism and unceasing ability to play any character à la perfection gives the film its quality feel and its striking humanism (the last scene of the film being devastatingly effective).

Although it has some shortcomings (Michel Magne's music is far too intrusive, and the budgetary limitations are all too apparent in the film's opening chapter), Un singe en hiver is overall a satisfying and memorable film.  It is perceptive, witty, and is held together by an indefinable sense of poetry, providing a wistful but not depressing meditation on life.
© James Travers 2003
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.
Next Henri Verneuil film:
Mélodie en sous-sol (1963)

Film Synopsis

A young man, Gabriel Fouquet, arrives in a coastal town in Normandy to visit his daughter, who is staying in a boarding school.  He ends up lodging in a guesthouse run by the aged Albert Quentin and his wife Suzanne.  To forget his troubles, Gabriel hits the bottle, not realising that the teetotal Albert was once a heavy drinker.  Twenty years ago, the latter pledged never to touch alcohol again if he and his wife survived the war. Through his friendship with Gabriel, Albert becomes nostalgic about his past, recalling his time as a sailor on an expedition to China.  To drown their sorrows, the two men embark on a drinking binge which quickly gets out of hand...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.


Film Credits

  • Director: Henri Verneuil
  • Script: François Boyer, Michel Audiard (dialogue), Antoine Blondin (novel)
  • Cinematographer: Louis Page
  • Music: Michel Magne
  • Cast: Jean Gabin (Albert Quentin), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Gabriel Fouquet), Suzanne Flon (Suzanne Quentin), Gabrielle Dorziat (Victoria), Hella Petri (Georgina), Marcelle Arnold (L'infirmière de la pension), Charles Bouillaud (Le chauffeur de taxi), Anne-Marie Coffinet (Simone), André Dalibert (Maurice, le brigadier), Hélène Dieudonné (Joséphine), Geneviève Fontanel (Marie-Jo), Gabriel Gobin (Un habitué du café), Sylviane Margollé (Marie), Lucien Raimbourg (Gardiner), Hans Verner (Le touriste allemand), Paul Frankeur (Esnault), Noël Roquevert (Landru), Édouard Francomme (Un habitué du café), René Hell (Un habitué du café), Billy Kearns (Un automobiliste)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Support: Black and White
  • Runtime: 105 min
  • Aka: It's Hot in Hell ; A Monkey in Winter

Continental Films, quality cinema under the Nazi Occupation
sb-img-5
At the time of the Nazi Occupation of France during WWII, the German-run company Continental produced some of the finest films made in France in the 1940s.
The very best of French film comedy
sb-img-7
Thanks to comedy giants such as Louis de Funès, Fernandel, Bourvil and Pierre Richard, French cinema abounds with comedy classics of the first rank.
The best films of Ingmar Bergman
sb-img-16
The meaning of life, the trauma of existence and the nature of faith - welcome to the stark and enlightening world of the world's greatest filmmaker.
The very best of German cinema
sb-img-25
German cinema was at its most inspired in the 1920s, strongly influenced by the expressionist movement, but it enjoyed a renaissance in the 1970s.
The very best fantasy films in French cinema
sb-img-30
Whilst the horror genre is under-represented in French cinema, there are still a fair number of weird and wonderful forays into the realms of fantasy.
 

Other things to look at


Copyright © frenchfilms.org 1998-2024
All rights reserved



All content on this page is protected by copyright