Le cavaleur

This is an entertaining comedy by an old hand who started as assistant to Henri Decoin in the 50's. I would give you a run-down of the plot, except it is too complicated. It's enough to say that Édouard Choiseul, our aging pianist hero, is juggling concerts, lessons, an ex-wife and present wife, a mistress, an old flame from the war years, her grand-daughter and about 20 other people who figure in his life. It is all held together very well by Jean Rochefort, whose air of weary aplomb is a joy to watch.

I don't think I have ever seen Nicole Garcia looking more beautiful,or more desirable. Imagine how crazy Édouard must be to want to go off to the States with Catherine Leprince. Annie Girardot as the first wife uses her fine comic timing to great effect, and Danielle Darrieux is radiant.

Philippe de Broca is widely esteemed for the excellence of his unconventional films and those who feel that LE CAVALEUR is in the top rank of the director's large body of work have ample reason to so believe, as a viewing of this wise and witty affair will make plain to most. The essence of this delightful exercise in comedic irony is a perception by renowned concert pianist Edouard Choiseul (Jean Rochefort) that his romantic successes with women will soon end and that he must discover a new and fixed purpose among life's potentialities in order to achieve lasting satisfaction. Frenzy marks Edouard's existence as he blends his amorous forays into a continuous schedule of concerts, recitals, recording sessions and pedagogy, confounding his frustrated wife (Nicole Garcia), mistress (Catherine Alric), and booking agent (Lila Kedrova), among others who wish to share his life. Preponderant among the film's attractions is the droll dialogue of Michel Audiard that de Broca employs as marrow for his scenario of the splendidly photographed effort, shot in beauteous Bretagne and paced by the director in a masterful manner so that a viewer cannot doubt that he is being led to an appropriate conclusion. The talented players are fine throughout with their readings, Garcia gathering the laurels for her nuanced performance as Edouard's tolerant second wife, with other superb turns from cabaret trained Rochefort, the beautiful Alric, ever refined Danielle Darrieux as Edouard's love during The Resistance, Annie Girardot playing his still smitten first wife and Catherine Leprince as the very young and final possessor of his heart, while de Broca skillfully utilizes his extras. Compositions by Beethoven, Bach and Schumann are of great importance within the blithe storyline, and among many others who capably contribute efforts are cinematographer Jean-Paul Schwartz whose camera and lighting expertise is strongly in evidence, Eric Moulard with creative set designing and costumer Catherine Le Terrier whose Nina Ricci styled gowns worn by Darrieux and Girardot are exceptional; editing is flawless for this sophisticated film during which de Broca unapologetically flirts with broad comedy without becoming its prey.

Le Cavaleur had the potential to be a fine comedy but Philippe de Broca and Michel Audiard went on a far more serious path and the light vaudeville gradually turns into a sad story about the meaning of life: getting old, building something and above all finding joy in the routine of day-to-day life with those who are willing to give you more than you manage to give them.

De Broca and Audiard were past there buoyant prime although Tendre Poulet was perfectly crafted, yet already with ageing characters that were no longer as vivacious and light-hearted as Belmondo in L'Homme de Rio or Cartouche or the Bebel shows of the 70s. Characters have more depth and it's more about tongue in cheek jokes, and in Le Cavaleur more about dead-serious life matters.

The funny thing is that both de Broca and Audiard became famous - and derided by the high-brow types - for their entertaining added-value and were firmly convinced in the 60s that movie-goers are craving for escapism, not to find the same issues they were having in their private lives blown up on the big screen.

Edouard Choiseul (Jean Rochefort) naively thinks he can continuously escape the realities of life, taking women for granted, only to find himself grounded with his family life and the need to accept ageing and eventually growing up beyond that selfish young stud he once was. The movie does a good job of telling this story, unfortunately this is all very disheartening as it starts with high comedic expectations. Quite a sobering exercise.

The best actor(s) can't help it, when, like in this case, the movie doesn't know where it wants to go, or what it actually is about.

Jean Rochefort is the born comedian, and that's some part of this movie. That he is not exactly handsome and good-looking help the movie. He plays a musician, who is adored by the women and adores women. He actually tries to sleep with all and any, and cheats on all and any. Rochefort is able to turn this part into an amusing enterprise, mostly by promising all and everything only to not keep his word(s).

Later he is forced by (seemingly) destiny to become a quite normal family man. He looks after the kids in the respective households.

That's basically all. There is no well-defined start, nor any qurantee.

Movie is about a very successful concert pianist, very well respected in his field, who is also an unabashed woman chaser. He cannot help but chase after any beautiful young co-ed who happens to capture his attention. Yet the man is not a cad by any means. He loves his wife, he loves his kids, he even has a great deal of affection for his ex-wife, and yet he cannot keep himself from constantly chasing after, and I mean completely throwing himself into his pursuit of whatever young woman happens to catch his eye. I should add that women are far from the only things he throws himself into the pursuit of, The man seems to be in a constant state of motion, forever making plans, and then pulling out of them at the drop of a hat because something more exciting came along. There's a running joke that the movie opens on and keeps coming back to where the man has just seemingly forgotten or abandoned plans to take his current mistress out to a ski vacation, the movie opens with her coming off of a train and asking the conductor if he's seen this man and when she gets a no lugs her skis off the train and around with her for at least half of the movie while she tries to track him down. Its a pretty good visual reminder of how frequently this man changes his mind and his plans often at the expense of those immediately around him.

Clearly the man is heading for a reckoning of sorts, and in the back half of the film, he certainly ends up getting it as he heedlessly falls head over heels in love with a much younger woman yet again and is disheartened to find out how badly out of shape he is (she's an avid jogger and he tries desperately to take it up just to be able to chat with her) and how he's almost zero competition for the more strapping in shape men the younger woman's age. He also gradually comes to realize that his wife with whom he is absolute in love with to be sure, has been thinking of carrying on her own string of affairs similar to him, and he has to gradually realize that his actions while almost consistently done without any malice or conscious thought really do affect the people in his life whom he actually does care about. Its his ex-wife who has to point that out to him a couple of times, before it finally sinks in coming back to his own home and seeing his current wife about to go out with a lawyer and having to shake the guy's hand before they go out.

I might not be selling this movie well, but its all done in a rather light-heart-ed style. The key to all of this aside from the constant motion is that Jean Rochefort never comes across as slimy or hateful or as a heartless bastard, but rather he comes across as more of an overgrown puppy who has to learn to slow down and appreciate what he has lest he lost it for good. Its a tricky tone to pull off, because you're supposed to feel sympathy for the guy after all and there are plenty of people out there who won't just because of how mindless he is of the people in his life, but I thought the movie worked very well specifically because of the light heart-ed and largely comedic tone. Its more of a screwball comedy than something meant to be taken seriously, but his change of heart in the last half hour is no less dramatic because of the lightness that came before. I enjoyed it quite a bit.