Mein Onkel Benjamin

Like the viewer Gilles, from Paris, I have seen many times this film on late night TV when I was a teenager in the 1970's. It was one of my favorite film. More than 20 years later, I just saw it again on late night TV and I was surprise how I was familiar to all the jokes, the words, the acting, just like I was with a very old friend. This is a beautiful film! There's a sparkle to it that makes it unforgettable. Also, I think that the caracter Benjamin, played by singer Jacques Brel, looks a lot like his wonderful songs. Brel was never a great actor, but here, he seems to play himself in a very warm way. The rest of the cast is also unique. Now, I have this on tape and I will see my old friend anytime I want.

The first picture is a painting ,while a voice over tells us that ,when king Louis XV was reigning,France was the country of the Douceur de Vivre .An idyllic view ,which must be far from the reality,but who cares? This is a vivid picaresque story,full of Joie de Vivre,which features singer Jacques Brel as a bon vivant, a womanizer fond of the bottle,but who falls for the innkeeper's daughter,played by Truffaut's protégée ,Claude Jade.Besides he is a doctor,who treats the Poor for free.His worst enemy is the Marquis de Cambyse who humiliates him by forcing him to kiss his a.....The wind of the soon-to-come revolution is softly blowing in the wind.But it does blow.

I have fond memories of this movie, which used to be shown on French TV repeatedly in the 70's, and not only because of Jacques Brel. This is picaresque at its best, the story of a XVIIIe Century country doctor prone to applied libertinism (preferably in haystacks with well-endowed girls) and free-thinking. Shot in 1969, its "paillardise" - bawdiness - is perhaps as faithful to the original novel as to its own time, and absolutely enjoyable. Think about a mixture of Cyrano and Tom Jones (the movie, not the singer). Brel is wonderful, though again the sympathetic proto-revolutionary hero, as are Claude Jade and the rest of a colorful cast.