Le sauvage

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.

Jean-Paul Rappeneau made an auspicious directorial debut in 1965 with 'La Vie de Chateau', a delightfully comic view of the Nazi occupation which made it a forerunner to films such as 'La Grande Vadrouille'. Fast forward twenty five years and he directed the definitive version of 'Cyrano de Bergerac'. In the interim he directed only three films, all of them comedies where the rather juvenile humour of his first film has been carried to extremes in which frantic is deemed funny and featuring silly slapstick, hysteria, numerous punch-ups and rat-a-tat delivery.

Two of these starred the charismatic Yves Montand and this is undoubtedly the better of the two. He is here partnered by Catherine Deneuve who had previously worked with Rappeneau on 'La Vie de Chateau'. Her presence guarantees that despite the frenetic goings on Romance will blossom and l'Amour conquer all. Montand's scruffy, unshaven Robinson Crusoe character whose peaceful island existence is shattered by a wilful, strong-minded and sexy female would seem a nod to Cary Grant in 'Father Goose' but whereas Grant and his girl Friday Leslie Caron are threatened by the Japanese, here Deneuve is pursued by a jilted fiancé and Montand is being tracked by his estranged wife. The fiancé is portrayed as a one-dimensional, hot-headed Italian caricature whose solution to every problem is to hit someone whereas the wife is a powerful business tycoon whose motive seems more financial than emotional and who is played by the classy Dana Wynter.

The film is evidently inspired by Hollywood films of the 'screwball' variety and the talented Mlle Deneuve acquits herself very well in an atypical role. Based upon the principle of 'horses for courses' it is best not to compare her with the likes of Carole Lombard and Jean Arthur who excelled in this particular genre. Her chemistry with Montand is palpable as it is in their only other film together, 'Les Choix des Armes.' No doubt with a view to the box office there is an utterly gratuitous shot of her breasts but of course, who's complaining?

Monsieur Montand is as engaging and beguiling in this as he was to be in Rappeneau's next film and in Claude Sautet's seldom seen 'Garcon'. It is a pity that he was not granted the opportunity to do more comedy whilst it is probably kinder to pass over in silence his appearance in 'Let's make love' which calls to mind the phrase 'a fish out of water'.

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")

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.

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.