Pétrole! Pétrole! (1981) Directed by Christian Gion
Comedy
Film Review
One of the few films from director Christian Gion that has just about
stood the test of time, Pétrole! Pétrole! is
a chaotic comedy inspired by the oil crises of the 1970s. In
common with many mainstream French comedies of this period, the
film has a tendency for abject silliness of the worse kind, but amid the dross there are
one or two decent laughs to be had. Despite a script
which appears to have come out of an infants' school,
Jean-Pierre Marielle and Bernard Blier somehow manage to turn in some
decent performances, although Blier clearly has a job portraying an
oil sheik with any conviction. How to humiliate a great actor, step 1:
stick a tea towel on his head and get him to impersonate an Arab.
The political incorrectness of it all is enough to make you laugh.
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Film Synopsis
Jean-Marie Tardel, the owner of a large petroleum company, becomes anxious
when his supplier, the Emir Abdullah, announces he intends increasing the
price of a barrel of crude oil by seven per cent. Adding to these woes
is the shock news that a garage attendant, Bernard Bérian, has just
won a bid to supply petrol from Africa, undercutting all of his competitors.
The effect of these two developments will be to drive Tardel out of business,
unless he can come up with an ingenious solution.
Hearing the Emir is about to make a visit to Paris, Tardel has his chance
to save himself from ruin. Without delay, he hastens to meet Abdullah
as his plane comes into land, not knowing that he is about to be forced into
abdicating. It turns out that the main reason for the Emir's visit
to France is to find his illegitimate child, the fruit of an illicit affair
he had when he was a student. How unfortunate that the missing child
should be Liza Bérian, the wife of the new oil baron who threatens
to drive Tardel to bankruptcy...
Cast:Jean-Pierre Marielle (Jean-Marie Tardel),
Bernard Blier (L'émir Abdullah),
Catherine Alric (Liza Bérian),
Henri Guybet (Bernard Bérian),
Charles Gérard (Prince Atiz),
Michel Modo (Alain Terrieur),
Bernard Musson (Durieux),
Max Douchin (Le secrétaire)
Country: France
Language: French
Support: Color
Runtime: 90 min
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