Le Majordome (1965)
Directed by Jean Delannoy

Film Review

Producer and filmmaker Jean Delannoy is synonymous with the quality tradition of French cinema.   His most significant films - L'Éternel retour, La Symphonie pastorale (winner of the 1946 Palme d'Or) and Les Jeux sont faits - were made in the 1940s and all have stood the test of time.  The 1950s was a prolific decade for Delannoy and included such diverse and successful films as La Minute de vérité, Chiens perdus sans collier, Marie Antoinette, reine de france, Notre Dame de Paris, Maigret tend un piège and Les Amitiés particulières.

By the 1960s times had changed and the best of Delannoy's career was behind him.  March 1965 saw the release of his uneven crime comedy Le Majordome, a film about a butler involved in a robbery.  As a publicity stunt, the original poster carried the slogan: 'The funniest robbery of the century'.  However, the lightweight storyline is really just an excuse to show off the imagination and extravagant behaviour of its main character, played by Paul Meurisse in a part that closely resembles his character from Georges Lautner's Monocle films (Le Monocle noir, etc.).
 
If the concept overall lacks subtlety, this is more than compensated for by Henri Jeanson's crisp and witty dialogue.  The result is far from being a masterpiece but it achieves its ultimate objective of entertaining its audience.  Meurisse is ably supported by the delightful and distinguished actress Geneviève Page, whose role is to provide the love/hate relationship with the film's hero.  Page's breakthrough was in the 1956 production of Jules Verne's Michel Strogoff with German actor Curd Jurgens.  She has played both French and English speaking roles and has appeared in films with stars such as Jean Marais, Michel Simon, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Gérard Philipe.  She starred alongside Charlton Heston in the epic El Cid and had notable roles in Luis Buñuel's Belle de jour, René Clément's Le Jour et l'heure, Terence Young's Mayerling and Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

As the film was a Franco-German production, Jean Delannoy was obliged to accept the German actor Paul Hubschmid as the bad guy.  Hubschmid starred with Michèle Morgan in Dis-moi qui tuer and teamed up with Dany Saval in Moi et les hommes de quarante ans.  We should not forget the incredible supporting cast, which includes Noël Roquevert (a stalwart of French cinema since the 1940s) and a cameo appearance by the French comedy legend Bourvil, who will later play Paul Meurisse's partner in crime in Alex Joffé's La Grosse caisse (1965).  After Le Majordome, Delannoy went on to direct another eight films, before retiring in 1995 with Marie de Nazareth (1995).

Film Synopsis

By working as a valet to an eminent lawyer who now regrets sending so many people to the scaffold, Léopold has gained himself a remarkably in-depth understanding of French law.  In his leisure time, he puts this knowledge to good use for the benefit of his associates in the Parisian underworld.  It is through this latter activity that he comes into contact with Agnès des Vallières, an attractive woman for whom he would do anything.  It is to please Agnès that Léopold agrees to assist a crook named Dr Ventoux - better known as The Cat - in his latest criminal exploit.  Little does he suspect that Ventoux is presently engaged to his beloved Agnès.  Realising that he has been duped, Léopold makes up his mind to sabotage the heist...