L'homme qui cherche la vérité

This war time A feature from the co-director of Billy Wilder's one French feature, is a bit grim for a comedy. The mean spiritedness of many French films of the period hangs over it.

In the line of "Volpone", banker Raimu has his suspicions about his apparently loving family (and mistress) raised and, to test the situation, he fakes deafness, getting them into the habit of talking about him while he's there.

Studio bound and rather drab, it doesn't show case it's celebrity cast to advantage.

This plot, barely recognizable, arrived in Hollywood as BRING on the GIRLS.

In the grand tradition of "Volpone" , a wealthy banker pretends he is deaf to know what the "others " think about him.

let's not forget ,that: The Esway/Wilder collaboration ("mauvaise graine") was a mediocre flick. "Volpone " ,starring Harry Baur , was made one year after Esway's effort .(Of course the play was anterior)

What am I driving at ? Simply that a movie featuring the great Raimu and such seasoned actors as Gabrielle Dorziat ,Jean Tissier,Alerme , Guitry's favorite and once wife Jacqueline Delubac cannot be that much drab.A masterpiece it is absolutely not ;but it is a sprightly funny comedy with several irresistible scenes:The producer(Tissier, with a speech oozing with insincerity) ,asking the banker some money to make a saucy (for the time!) film .Raimu ,speaking broken English with his provençal accent .The same ,pretending he is deaf ,and answering at the wrong moment.

Sometimes hardly a comedy ( funny happy end!), the movie depicts a mean, calculating ,ungrateful and hypocrit humanity ;the end of the movie is almost tragic: one cannot trust anyone, from the sister to the protégé to the mistress one really loves .