Yesterday I had written about the giant of the French comedy Louis de Funès. And before that, the joyful Jardins en Automne which was quite unexpectedly funny. These two were absolutely satisfying examples of French cinema of the past. Following these good experiences, last night I took my chance on the contemporary French comedy, a movie which I had been saving for quite some time. However, I almost stopped watching in the middle of it; it was an absolute disappointment.
Many of you would know the leading actor, Artus Penguern, who is also the director of the movie, from Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain. There he was the ever miserable writer Hipolito. It was a nice small role in a wonderful movie and he did a fine job I believe; whereas Gregoire Moulin is a completely annoying character.
Valerie Benguigui - Gregoire Moulin
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The movie starts in a mood resembling Amelie, which is quite promising for a beginning. Gregoire Moulin is a very shy and unlucky accountant, who just starts a new life in Paris. Across the street where his office is, there is a ballet school and Gregoire quickly falls in love with the beautiful and fragile ballet teacher, Odile Bonheur, who is equally shy and unlucky. He can not encourage himself for days to meet her, although they both have their lunch at the same cafe, and finally comes up with a brilliant (?) plan; he steals her wallet when she leaves her bag on the table and then calls her to tell that he had found it, setting up kind of a blind date to give it to her. However, things would not go according to plan, for a night just like a nightmare is about to begin for him. He is locked out of the office, tries to reach his associate who has the office keys, calls Odile to tell her he will be late, and until he finally meets mademoiselle Bonheur late at night, he encounters most strange characters, from an annoying bookseller to a rich couple desiring to have a threesome with him, and many others who turns his life to hell in couple of hours.
The whole movie consists of running, yelling, pursuing, which some apparently find funny, but for me, it was a painful experience. Instead of laughing, in about the middle of it, I found myself almost crying, saying to myself, now that's enough! There isn't even a hint of some clever jokes or scenes, and you are to laugh at 90 minutes of chaos, which is tiresome. The only positive aspect is the characters all having been played brilliantly, and yet, the plot is too weak to support that. There is a grand sub-plot of an important football game played that very night, which is partially the reason for all events to be quite unusual; and the only way to portray that football folie is neverending shouts and fights? Well, one expects something more.
Therefore, if you have patience, if you have an hour and a half to waste, if you believe that bedlam - and noise to be exact - is funny, then watch Gregoire Moulin Contre L'Humanite; otherwise just focus on the classics, at least even if you do not find it funny you may say it must be rated according to its period and you still may have hope for the rather contemporary examples.
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