Le plaisir (et ses petits tracas)

An episode film with the structure of LA RONDE and the name of another Ophuls fifties movie - all right, we'll forgive them for that.

The plot which involves terminal cases, strip club cleaners, an aging husband more interested in rent boys, disco fog asphyxiation and serial killer Cassell who's gone into the clinic for sleep therapy, gives a chance to watch talent of the standard of Kassovitz, Cellier and Placido at work. Nicely perverse touches like the nurse's delight at having pulled a loony.

Production is good and this one holds attention well even if we'd like to watch these people do something more substantial.

The format of this film is similar to that of La Ronde filmed in 1950. It is a series of sexual episodes in which one of the characters moves from one episode to the next. This gives each actor an opportunity of 15 minutes of stardom, and they all do well in portraying a motley array of characters.

The film starts literally with a bang and ends with a strangulation. In between there are numerous events both strange and unpredictable involving drugs and homosexuality, a deaf-mute and a potential suicide. The odd characters assembled in this movie are each in their own way in search of sexual gratification. They are a rather unhappy lot but generally interesting and entertaining. Because of the format the stories perhaps are a little contrived at times and the cross-over point from one episode to the next is not always clearly defined. Sometimes this is done on purpose to introduce an element of surprise when the sexual partners are revealed by the camera. Interest is maintained throughout as the action proceeds at a good pace and I have to admit there is never a dull moment. The musical sound effects seem just right with their haunting and unhappy mood.

If one is to choose among the actors the character of Marcel is particularly interesting as a handsome drug-addicted thief and the hospital nurse and wounded soldier in the early scene give truly genuine performances.

Boukhrief, as in Kassovitz's Assassins, missed his point : the main idea could have been interesting, but he failed because of the poverty of the situations, hardly real dialogs and bad actors -except from Kassovitz-. Cassel sounds fake, settings look too lit or too unapropriated, and the story itself remains stupid. A failure.

I just read arnaud's comment and I think that he was a little bit wrong ! The movie has a bad ending but the rest is pretty good. Where did you ever hear a line like "Je suis un peu tueur des femmes!"( I am a little bit of a lady s killer).You have to watch the movie just to see Vincent Cassel saying these words!