Un moment d'égarement

Claude Berri could be counted on to turn out solid entertainment. Tchao Pantin was a great vehicle for Coluche, Manon des Sources was terrific for Daniel Auteuil's and Emmanuelle Beart's careers, as well as providing a fine part for the aging Yves Montand. Un Moment has the same formula: a good script plus the visual appeal of the Riviera provide enjoyment.

Marielle, tall and graceful, and Lanoux, shorter and bull-like (remember him as the lover in Cousin, Cousine) play well off each other. Agnes Soral, with her hawk nose and easy wit, does a fine job as Marielle's lover. Christine Dejoux, playing Marielle's very discontented daughter is even more darkly unhappy than Demi Moore was in the remake.

If I were doing this story, I'd have a cast switch: Michelle Pfeiffer and Lorraine Bracco as the parents, Hayden Christenson and Emile Hirsch as the kids. I sometimes feel we need to challenge the patriarchal culture of Hollywood, make it possible for two middle-aged women to have as much fun as men.

The plot of this film--two fathers take their teenage daughters to the beach, and one has a sexual affair with the other friend's daughter who is also his daughter's best friend--may seem familiar to Americans of a certain age. That's because this French movie was re-made in 1984 as the film "Blame It on Rio" with Michael Caine. "Blame It on Rio" was strangely sold back then as one the "Porky's"-style sex comedies of the era, which typically focused on adolescent boys who were trying to "lose it". And while adolescent boys of the 80's no doubt enjoyed seeing voluptuous lead actress Michelle Johnson in all her glory (and that movie also marked the rather inauspicious debut of Demi Moore), it's doubtful too many of them could really relate to the middle-aged angst of the male protagonist played by Caine. This theme though is MUCH more common in French movies of the 70's and 80's (in fact the 17-year-old actress here Agnes Sorral is a relatively mature young woman compared to the objects of middle-aged male affection in movies like "Beau Pere").

This is a more serious movie then "Blame It on Rio", but like that film the end is kind of a cop-out that doesn't really puncture the middle-age male fantasy. But that's alright I guess. Ironically, this movie has an adult sensibility to it that is a lot more mature and less "teen-obsessed" than the entire entertainment culture of America today. (Although they would NEVER make a mainstream film like this today in America, we do have 10,000 "barely legal" hardcore porn videos and an entire culture that generally seems to be aimed at people with a fifteen-year-old mentality).

This kind of reminded me of a David Hamilton film, but it is much better made dramatically speaking. And while I'll always have a certain misbegotten affection for "Blame It on Rio" (which I first saw as a teenager), this is the better movie.

1977, cinema is free and France generally likes to be even freer. No conventions, hardly any boundaries, room for all kinds of ideas, perhaps even outlandish fantasies. Well, let's say thoughts, we're not in the X-rated area after all. Nevertheless, the constellation presented may seem very offensive today. Perhaps that time was simply more relaxed and natural. The current self-congratulatory 'where love falls' is just as much a sham as any other supposedly achieved freedom. The chains are stronger than ever, but unfortunately less recognisable. So the story sounds strangely lurid at first, but it soon becomes clear that this does not reflect the actual intention and feeling of the film at all. The film is more of a summery, upbeat drama with some deeper content. One is the coming-of-age theme, classic for adolescents, but also that of adults in their midlife crisis. Getting older and growing old. Life doesn't make it easy for us, the peak of existence seems either a brief moment or never attainable at all due to the struggle of all our powers. Painfully, either we are too young to even understand the complexity of it all and handle it in the best possible way, or we are already so old that the real here and now can only be seen from the outside. This is where the two worlds collide for a summery moment, with far-reaching consequences. The resulting conflict, or conflicts, are quite something, especially the explosive nature of the male friendship. This makes the ending all the more implausible. As I said, more entertainment film than cinematic philosophising, that's up to the viewer.

I saw both in the theater, and preferred this to the remake. It's so long ago, it's hard to be specific. But the characters seemed to be less of nitwits.

This is a simple but really fine film; well scripted, sensitively directed by Claude Berri, and in places almost memorably acted. It is warm and to me rings true to life. I saw it as a TV presentation, but once I started viewing it I would have been most reluctant to be dragged away from the screen. The version I saw was dubbed in English - I would have preferred sub-titles but the dubbing was certainly better here than is often the case. Four years after it was released Stanley Donen re-filmed this story in Hollywood with a South American setting ("Blame it on Rio"). His film is 20 minutes longer and is presented as an overlong, straight and rather broad comedy, most of which is basically pretty boring to watch - it provides a classic example of the way in which Hollywood has so often demonstrated it can seldom attain the sensitivity shown by good French films.

I believe this film is still listed as available on tape, but in my view it would certainly warrant release as a DVD.