La Cuisine au beurre (1963)
Directed by Gilles Grangier

Film Review

Two French comic legends, Fernandel and Bourvil, are united in this light comic farce, assuming their real life names for the parts they play in the film. Although less successful than the Bourvil-de Funès pairing in later films (Le Corniaud, La Grande vadrouille), the casting works well, Fernandel's easy-going personality sparring Bourvil's hyperactivity and vulnerable sensitivity to great comic effect.

In fact, the film relies almost entirely on its lead comic actors for its success.  The plot is rambling, the dialogue is contrived and some of the film's most memorable comic situations appear cumbersome and overly theatrical.  In spite of all that, Bourvil and Fernandel bring something approaching magic to the film, making this a heart-warming light comedy which will appeal to many.

Although barely remembered outside of his native France, Gilles Grangier directed a number of popular French films in the 1950s and 1960s.  La Cuisine au beurre was one of his most successful films, with over 6 million ticket sales in France.

Film Synopsis

During WWII, Fernand Jouvin escapes from the camp where he has been held as a prisoner-of-war and is taken in by a pleasant Austrian woman named Gerda.  The couple have a harmonious life together for the next twenty years, but when Gerda's husband returns from Sibera after being released by the Russians Fernand knows that the time has come for him to head back to his hometown in the south of France and resume his old life.  On his arrival in Martigues Fernand is none too pleased to find that his wife Christiane has married her head chef André and turned his demotic bar-café into an exclusive gourmet restaurant specialising in Normandy cuisine.  Fernand gains his wife's sympathies by pretending he has been rotting away in a Siberan prison for the past twenty years.  Realising that his marriage to Christiane is now void, André has a violent falling out with Fernand, who then refuses to assist in the restaurant because he detests cooking with butter.  Over time, the two men learn to put aside their grievances and a friendship develops between them.  They go fishing together and play bowls, and in the end André realises that he cannot bring himself to take away Fernand's wife and livelihood, so he decides to slip away quietly.  For Fernand, who has become fond of André and isn't that keen to return to his old life, this is more than he can bear...