Based on a Marcel Aymé novel,"Clerambard" is an iconoclast nay anarchist movie.Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Teorema" -released the same year- turned comedy.
An old aristocrat (colorful Philippe Noiret ) short of the readies has turned his desirable mansion into a textile workshop,where he works with his wife ,his son and his mother-in-law ;he's grumpy,stingy and unsympathetic;in the village ,the wealthy solicitor (the wonderful Claude Piéplu)wants his ugliest daughter to marry the half-witted young noble (Gérard Lartigau) so she will become a countess.
But saint Francis Assisi appears and the count changes overnight;he does not want his family to kill the spiders (your sister ,the spider)and he begins to ignore the social conventions: his son will marry "La Langouste" (=the lobster) ,the local hooker who keeps a strong clientèle among the billeted troops.Dany Carrel gives a convincing performance as the "Fille De Joie" , which shows Arletty's influence.
Was it a miracle? Or was it some kind of bad joke? Anyway ,now,the aristocrat ,imitating our Lord ,divests himself of all possessions of the material world and intends to hit the road in a horse-drawn caravan .
Luis Bunuel would have loved the picture of the vicar,left alone in front of his church,and of the soldiers, following their "guru" and claiming they have no furlough ,who are told that "God will see to it" ."Imagine no possessions,no religion,no countries and nothing to kill or die for..." ;Indeed.
You always get something from an Yves Robert movie.
