Going Places

There will be people who are able to fully identify with our two main actors (and/or the main female in this), but there may also be some who can't really get their deal entirely. I don't think the characters are or should be role models. On the other hand, the struggle is real. If you are not able to see or have a goal, what do you do? Where do you go? How do you achieve satisfaction? (very much pun intended in this case).

Now having said that, the acting is more than rock solid and while there are cringe worthy scenes (some things feel like at least sexual harassment, until the female involved caves in, like in the train), viewers may experience them differently. Especially considering the free loving decade this was shot and made in. There's a vibe here that you have to accept. Some things are easier to swallow others not so much. But while there is a lot of innuendo and a lot of sexual situation (including a lot of nudity), this is not so much titilating as it is funny. Still more of a road movie/drama, this is quite the experience and voyage one takes with those mischiefs/small time crooks ...

The movie has a distinct (albeit brutish and rough) humanity for all its borderline depravity - the zippy/lyrical score points up the comic side of their misadventures, and even when they're at their most thuggish (like terrorizing the woman on the train), a semi-pitiful vulnerability lurks never far away (Dewaere sucks on her breasts like a baby). Blier cuts away from the scene where Depardieu may be about to rape Dewaere, so we're never sure how explicitly to read the manifestly homoerotic aspect of their relationship - either way, that incident is the start of their relative humanization (so the movie could certainly be read as pro-gay, although it could likely be read as pro-anything you want). The movie has many objectionable scenes and points of sexual politics and is probably best taken as a general cartoon on the foibles of both sexes, making a mockery of the whole notion of sensitivity and honesty, and hitting numerous points of possible profundity on the basis that if you fire off enough shots, some of them are bound to hit.

Bertrand Blier is indeed l'enfant terrible of French cinema and in the seventies he always could shock the public. Filmed with his fave duo (Depardieu and Dewaere) and the usual dose of sex (Miou-Miou plays her typical role, at least the one from the seventies as little could we know that a decade later she would be the best French actress ever). In first "Les Valseuses" is also one of the first roadmovies as the viewer is just taken to some journeys of two little criminals. Those who only are satisfied with family life, or simply know nothing more, the movie would be quite a shocker but this movie is more than just that, it just let you think of all the usual things in life (working for the car, being bounded at work etc.). It's a sort of critic towards the hypocrite society we're living in. Great job and it just makes you wish two things : Dewaere died just too young as he was a topactor and of course Depardieu, he'd better should have stuck with French movies as he proves here that no one can beat him. Timeless classic and 20 years later it will still shock some...

This mean-spirited French comedy from the mid-seventies retains all it's freshness, even by today's standards. In fact, it's aimless structure and cynical wit would probably be more distressing to audiences now, more than ever (as vacuously preoccupied with good taste as most movies are these days). This is one of many Bertrand Blier films that tackles some of the more obtuse viewpoints on the male's pursuit of happiness. Courageous and effective filmmaking, and a very nice introduction from Gerard Depardieu. No small mention should be made of Stephane Grappelli's spare but brilliant music score. GET OUT YOUR HANDKERCHIEFS and TOO BEAUTIFUL FOR YOU will follow this gem.

This is one a most famous movies of the French sexual empowerment of the seventies, starring Gerard Depardieu and Patrick Dewaere in extremely sarcastic roles. It is also one of the many dark psychological dramas of the seventies/eighties, such as "Serie Noire", "Buffet Froid", "Beau Pere", all realized by Blier.

However, I would like to correct the previous comment that was posted on the movie: the translated title in English is very far from the French version. It is true that both protagonists are "going places", but the title in French could be literally translated by "the waltz dancers", which is a metaphor for the movement of the testicles...