Pardon Mon Affaire (1976)

Yves Robert's best works are those which deal with children :"la guerre des boutons" "la Gloire de mon Père" and its follow-up "le château de ma mère"."Un éléphant" is not as good as the three movies I mention above.But what connects it to his three wonderful films is that its four heroes have not really grown up.Claude Brasseur 's way of pitting the olives is a schoolboy 's joke!We can also credit Robert for introducing a gay character (Brasseur) while avoiding the usual clichés.Brasseur portrays a man like all the other ones.We'd never guess he is gay if we were not told it so.On the other hand,the female parts are not very interesting:Daniele Delorme -who was Robert's wife and her co-producer-was better in the fifties when she was directed by Duvivier and the attractive Duperrey is nothing but a mirage .And Guy Bedos 's mother is a calamity ,for Marthe Villalonga is ham-acting flesh on the bone.The movie was so successful that there was a sequel ("Nous irons tous au Paradis' ) and an American remake ("the woman in red")

This Yves Robert's film gave Gene Wilder the idea for a US remake ("The Woman in red"). But the latter doesn't have neither the freshness nor the simplicity of the French version.As a European, I feel myself better at ease with the Robert's movie because it is nearer to my culture -and the fact that actors and action are set in Paris make easier for me to understand the way characters think...It's doubtless a French comedy, with a perfect actor for this kind of work -Jean Rochefort, who portrays a typical French "bourgeois", awkward, shy and proud of his social position at the same time. A frustrated male of Latin culture...!Etienne (Rochefort) falls in love with a sexy woman he meets in his bureau. This woman is then chosen for an advertisement... He will do everything for conquering her, unless telling it his wife. The film is a joke about men erotically fantasies.The film is witty, charming and well written. Whereas Italian comedies play mostly with satire, strange comical faces and misunderstandings, French comedies are less caricature, they present "clownesques" situations in (appearently) more serious environments. Two excellent comical approaches! They're so different from American comical movies -in American comedies there's more mess, you laugh because situations are so incredible and full of contradictions.This film is worth to see, Jean Rochefort is funny even if he seems serious. When I saw the Gene Wilder movie I didn't enjoy so much -Wilder is an excellent actor, but his "Woman in red" had something quite artificial.. It was not as spontaneous like the original one. Wilder is better with his extravaganzas, with slapstick elements...

This truly funny and very well written - by Dabadie - comedy directed by Yves Robert is certainly one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. It is also one that I enjoy seeing again and again.Where the pretext for the story is really just what it is - a pretext - the most interesting part is the relationships that fuels the friendship between four men entangled in very difficult "rapport" with women. The funniest one certainly being the mother-son relationship that is in fact a true love story, that goes on between Guy Bedos and Marthe Villalonga. The scenes between those two are real anthology pieces.The secondary roles are also very attaching, particularly the one held by Christophe Bourseiller.All in all, this "coup de foudre" turned bad, told in voice over with amazing wit and elegance by Jean Rochefort is a classic that stands alone in the face of very mediocre French comedies.The sequel - Nous irons tous au paradis - is also very enjoyable.

Etienne(Jean Rochefort)is a happily married man and a good father. His friends all have secret affairs and/or cheat on their wives. One morning, Etienne sees a woman in red passing by his car. He falls in love with her and tries everything to get to know her better. Of course, this must be kept a secret to his wife.Whereas the story may not be very original, this film is extremely charming and amiable nonetheless. It has a great supporting cast(Brasseur is a stand-out), very funny moments and many real-life characters. Too bad this charming little film was later remade as THE WOMAN IN RED(with Gene Wilder and Kelly LeBrock). But Hollywood seems to have this "urge" to make their own version of each film with a bit of success outside the States. Anyway, if you have to choose between the original and the remake, choose UN ÉLEPHANT...(or PARDON MON AFFAIRE as it is sometimes called). 7/10