Papa, maman, la bonne et moi...

Etienne Chatiliez's idea -a big boy nearing thirty still living with his folks - for his "Tanguy" was not that much new,by a long shot.Jean -Paul Le Chanois's hero did the same in 1954;take law instead of Chinese and you've got a "new" screenplay.

THat said,"Papa ,Maman,la bonne et moi" is a rather clumsy comedy ,Gaby Morlay playing -as an amateur- Marguerite Gautier at fifty-something does not exactly equal Garbo.It' s not very funny all in all,and there are not many surprises for the audience.

Le Chanois,one of the betes noires of la nouvelle vague,was a former critic in "les cahiers du cinema" though,this magazine in which Truffaut and co cut their teeth in the fifties.

This is now some kind of document of a time when petits bourgeois like Lamoureux's family used to live in the same apartment building than the proles.(with one significant difference:the rich used to live on the lower stories ,the less-than-wealthy in the rooms with slopping ceilings up where they belong ,so to speak.)

Oh, I'm not completely agree with the previous review of that film, because author says that it's not funny at all. Yes, it's not a hilarious french comedy like Oscar, Gendarmes or something like that. That film goes in the way of Sabrina (I mean early films with Audrey Hepburn), because I think it more American feel there than french. The cast is good. Women plays good parts. The father of the family is outstanding, especially in the very beginning of the film. And there is a little gem. A wonderful part by Louis de Funes. He is at his best there, but this episode is so short. (Approx. 3 min.). So i give 76 out of 100