La vie est un long fleuve tranquille

True, this is not the best movie ever made. It is, however, extremely funny. One cannot truly realize why this is such a ridiculous movie until they know the the french culture. It is not a study in the class differences, it is to exaggerate the extreme opposite ends of the spectrum. The rich family is so stable it is almost hokey, and the poor family is so dysfunctional that they are almost stable. All of the comments about life are only to exaggerate the situation. I particularly love the scene in the church with the musical, it just goes to show how silly things can be. I don't watch this movie over and over for the plot, I watch it because every time you see it you notice something now that is characteristically French. Personally, I think it is great.

This film is perhaps my favorite French comic film. I have seen it over and over through the years, perhaps 50 times. Having lived in France, I relish it's send-up of two stereotypical French families and their attitudes and interactions with each other as well as with institutions: the church, schools, the medical profession, foreigners among them, etc. As I see it over and over, it is my delight to concentrate on one character or another as they delineate a stereotypical trait. The subtleties are hilarious, yet I can imagine those who have never lived among the French might be bewildered, even turned off.

This movie will warm part of your black heart. We get to see the set up for the reason that two families, which in reality exist in two worlds which never interact, are forced into contact. When the "good" family finds out about their switched child, they seek to recover the child from the "bad" family and raise it in their home along with their other children, natural and switched. Their life quickly deteriorates with numerous misfortunes and confrontations. Towards the end, the "good" mother is seen belting down scotch in the kitchen, her older son comforts her with the tag line "Mom,life is not a river quietly flowing." Many funny scenes and embarrassing situations. If you liked The tall blond many with one black shoe, give this little movie an opportunity.

Etienne Chatiliez is a director possessing a deft hand for comedy both cruel and subtle: think "Tatie Danielle" for the former and "Le bonheur est dans le pre" for a bit of the latter. La vie est un long fleuve tranquille is a hilarious examination of class-based comedy in the late 80s in France, with the time honoured "baby-switching" plot point to kick things off. Great performances allow a very funny film to sparkle on the screen. Highly recommended.

At last, this little gem of a film is available on DVD (only in French, no subtitles, but it is, in any case, a difficult film to enjoy other than in French), together with 2 hours of additional interviews.

This film is a wicked little satire on the differences (and, below the surface, the similarities) between the bourgeois LeQuesnoy family and the wastrel Groseille family. The artifice used is the switching of two children at birth by the unhappy mistress of the gynaecologist.

For many of the actors and the director, this was their first film, providing a stepping stone for greater things. But "La Vie est un Long Fleuve Tranquille" should not be missed. Many of its little jokes became catchphrases in the France of the eighties and early nineties, so cruelly apt were they.

And do not miss Etienne Chatiliez's later films, particularly "Tatie Danielle" et "Le Bonheur est dans le Pre".

You might not enjoy this film - some people clearly haven't. But I recommend you make the effort to decide for yourself. It will be worth it.