Le sauvage

Vibrantly photographed, with a more casual, less refined than usual Catherine Deneuve (in one of her rare forays into slapstick comedy) at her most beautiful, but shrill, mostly unfunny, and way overlong; the would-be husband's character (an Italian caricature) is particularly unendurable. *1/2 out of 4.

In Caracas, Nelly (Catherine Deneuve) is engaged of Vittorio (Luigi Vannucchi). However, after the engagement party with his family, she calls off the commitment and flees from him lodging in a hotel. Vittorio pursues her but the middle-aged French guest Martin (Yves Montand) helps Nelly. She seeks out her former employer Alex Fox (Tony Roberts), who owns a night-club and owes one-year salary to her, but he does not help her. Nelly steals a valuable painting from his office and heads back to the hotel, hiding in Martin's room. He gets a ticket to Paris for her and leaves her at the airport. Then he sails on his boat to an island where he lives alone. When Martin arrives, he finds Nelly waiting for him in his house. She explains that customs did not allow her to leave Venezuela with the painting. Soon his peaceful life of hermit becomes Hell on Earth, but they fall in love with each other. However Vittorio and Alex are still chasing her.

"Le sauvage" is a silly but funny romantic comedy. Catherine Deneuve is gorgeous and her devilish character is totally amoral. There is no reason why men fall for her but her beauty. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Selvagem" ("The Savage")

For viewers outside of France,French film industry is identified by its 'art cinema' as well as its 'commercial cinema'.This is an important distinction to pigeonhole films as it enables viewers to choose films based on their personal tastes. Apart from the general film festival circuit, there is also a huge market for "French commercial films". This has created the perception that commercial films made in France are as entertaining, intelligent and meaningful as art films which have changed the shape of cinema. French director Jean-Paul Rappeneau is a director whose films have always oscillated between realms of art and commercial. The success of his third film "Le Sauvage" proved that even commercial films can convey a lot of useful information about human beings and the societies in which they live. For this film,fast paced action is a big virtue as leading pair of Yves Montand and Catherine Deneuve use all available emotions to entertain their audiences. One has to carefully watch the dogged determination with which Catherine Deneuve is able to get herself out of complex situations. Although Yves Montand's character prefers to lead a lonely yet simple life, it has been dubbed 'savage' due to the use of his 'savage force in rescuing Catherine Deneuve. Although the end is a trifle disappointing, Le Sauvage must be on all those viewers' wish list who would like to learn while getting entertained.

After thirty, I suppose a legend is able to do pretty much what she wants. Here, Catherine Deneuve, tiring of being the glacial Grace Kelly type for Bunuel, Truffaut et les autres opts for very effective physical comedy alongside Yves Montand.

They do Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn-style farcical routines very well. Deneuve, escaping from her frenetic fiance, hooks up with Montand, who is himself fleeing marital and business entanglements. Tony Roberts, seen in Woody Allen films of the period, does very well as the club owner from whom Deneuve steals a Toulouse-Lautrec, and who must track down the dizzy blonde in Venezuela to get it back. Jean-Paul Rappeneau's direction is accomplished and the scenery is gorgeous. There is a car chase that actually is funny, and I can't recall the last one that made me laugh.

Although if I'd been him, I'd have let the monster have her much sooner. Nice twist with his back story but Nelly definitely wasn't worth all the trouble.