Bécassine

"Bécassine" was one of the first European comic strips ,although its authors did not use the speech bubbles ;it began to define what is known under the "clear line" term,which spawned the whole Belgian school ,of which Tintin is the most famous work.Anyway the Podalydès bros were Hergé buffs : the Greek stringman's name, in their "BECASSINE!" is probably a nod to Rastapopoulos.

When "Becassine" was transferred to the screen in 1940,there was an outcry in Bretagne:a real storm in a teacup,considering what was happening in France at the time.The same almost happened for the 2018 version.

But the people are very divided on the character:a lot of people (particularly Bretons)have always thought that this bubble head servant was a way of laughing at Bretagne,which would have been behind the times.There's a certain charm in these comic books nonetheless,particularly when it verges on absurd.Becassine carries the orders to the letter ,and as she has her own logic,it's really funny in places.

In the 1940 effort, this side of the comedy is passed over in silence ;Paulette Dubost was ideally cast as the lead ,but she was given an an abysmal screenplay to work with.

The Podalydès bros 's attempt is a vast improvement on it : the pictures are luminous , the characters move in an almost magic landscape ,and a nostalgic poetry emanates from certain sequences: the magic lantern ,the balloons , the ball with cartoon characters (in both senses of the terms ) ,all this and more have an obsolete charm of things of a distant past .Karin Viard,mainly in her first scenes, is a distinguished Marquise De Grand Air ;Emelyne Bayart ,who is not very known ,is well cast as the principal;on the other hand ,her wicked cousin,Marie Quillouch (Squinting Marie) does not squint and becomes a tomboy ;too bad uncle Corentin only wears the Breton costume at the beginning.

Becassine carries the orders to the letter ,and as she has her own logic:it's the main source of comic in the albums and ,in this field, the gags are few and far between : the excellent "idem" bibs gag is botched and Bécassine's problems with the vocabulary (here represented by her lines with Mademoiselle Chataigne (=chestnut)) don't fit in the picture: Bécassine is a naive bubble head nanny and she's supposed to have kept her peasant language and rustic accent ;here it's too refined ("IL A Fière Allure" =he cuts a fine figure) ;no patois, no broken French .

In spite of its qualities ,it's not sure that it will satisfy the readers who are old now ;At the French box office ,the movie semi-nosedived ;it's ages since children stopped reading these comics.Yet,the Podalydès 's work is aimed at their market ; the grandparents may take them to the theaters because of their childhood nostalgia ; but it will do the trick only for little brats ; their elders would rather have more eventful tales .

"Becassine " ,compared to such disasters in the comic-turned-movie such as "Spirou" ,"Boule Et Bill " , "Iznogood " or " Gaston" ,was made with care and can ,from that point of view,considered a successful work ; but as a character who's supposed to make you heartily laugh , it does not make it.

Becassine is a kind of rare character at this time. It is magical to see how her innocence and optimism protects the last hope.

Saw this one when I was in Paris with mum. Had a nice time.