Ein Tolpatsch auf Abwegen

The year is 1976, François Perrin (Pierre Richard) a advertising photographer is very tired of his job. As he thinks it, his only chance to get out of that job is that the film script he has been writing together with his friend Henri Mercier (Henri Guybet) will be picked up by the filmproducer Bob Morlock (Jean-Pierre Marielle).

Morlock accepts if he can make changes in the script, he will make it into a porn film. Now François knows that Henri never will accept it, so he signs a contract, and lie to Henri. Now it's time for François' wife, Christine (Miou-Miou) to join. No way she will say OK to his project. The comedy is ready for lift off.

But... this film doesn't work, it's more stupid than funny.

Made in 1976 it's probably is around this time that the French brought naked people into mainstream film. The women of course, even the female lead Miou-Miou must appear naked. But today, that's not enough.

It's strange because Pierre Richard has made a lot of good comedies and his co-star Miou-Miou likewise. Both still makes films by the way. The film is directed by Georges Lautner who directed 47 films and amongst these quite a few hits. The script was made by Francis Weber with an astounding 130 film scripts, a lot of them hits.

But all to no avail, the only really positive thing about this film, is that it's giving proof that Miou-Miou is a very good actress.

In 1976,the movie was a good commercial success but the critics were sometimes unfair ;in "La Saison Cinématographique 1976",the (leftist) journalist wrote that Lautner did not take any chances,that he praised faithfulness and preserved the scale of social values.He added that he got bored after 30 minutes .

Hindsight displays its charms.After May 68,pornographic movies industry mushroomed and it was par excellence the kind of movie one might long ago have predicted Lautner would make .

A man working in a pasta factory writes a "serious" screenplay called "Le Miroir De L'Ame " (=Mirror of soul) in which terrorists breaks into a bourgeois house :their leader falls for the wealthy daughter ,but their love remains chaste;finally the revolutionaries win them over) A director (Pierre Richard,overtaken by events) agrees to make it but they need money ,hence a Producer;enter Morlock ,an unscrupulous porno tycoon (Jean Pierre Marielle ,at the top of his form).He asks for some changes in the screenplay and "Le Miroir De L'Ame " becomes "La Vaginale" (=the vaginal one).

There's never a dull moment ;there are furtive nudities,but no coarseness.The movie lacks finesse in its last third and its last scene is overlong and disappointing.But there are good scenes :my favorite is the screen test in which the actress is asked to read lines from Molière 's "L'Ecole Des Femmes" twice, the first time fully dressed ,and the second one stark naked :Miou-Miou shines in this sequence ,with tears in her eyes.

"On Aura Tout Vu" (= that beats everything)is no masterpiece,but the actors make it worthwhile.

Like this.....Try this.....

"Attention Les Yeux" (Gérard Pirès,1976)

Pierre Richard make a lot of very good comic films between 1970 and 1990 and I think he's among the greatest comic stars of the history of French cinema, among with Christian Clavier, Louis DeFunes, Fernandel and Bourvil. Under the direction of Edouard Molinaro, Yves Robert, Gérard Oury, the great great Francis Veber or Pierre Richard himself, the comedian shows us a ordinary guy character, clumsy, sometimes shy, full of good intentions, but not where he should be. He looks a bit like the characters Harold Lloyd plays in the silent movies era. Most of these films are short (1 hour 30) and full of very funny jokes. A lot of them were badly remake by Hollywood: Le grand blond, La chèvre, Le jouet, Les compères, les Fugitifs) This one was not his most popular film of the 1970's, but it's one of my favorite. Pierre Richard plays a photograph who madly wants to be a movie director, and he accepts to adapt a melodrama, written by one of his friends, into a porn movie. Lots of very funny dialogues, are hilarious situations. And for a +, see charming young Miou-Miou playing the girlfriend of Pierre Richard

No pun intended - from pictures to ... pictures! Both can be hot I reckon! Model photographer - some may think that they ... well I reckon if you have super models around you, from the outside it does look like a tempting job. It also may look like a logical step ... to go into adult film-making. But don't think this is ... or will give you many hot scenes.

This is a comedy - which you may have guessed anyway, what with Pierre Richard being in the main role. There still is some nudity, there still are raunchy and at least thematically hot scenes. It still is more on the comedy side of things. The story moves along nicely and we have a lot of sneaky situations ... as in not everyone knows what is happening and what kind of movie is being shot. Which is part of the comedy (appeal) of the movie ... and you have to suspend your disbelief ... a lot.