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In my book, Claude Lelouch is much better at making comedies than at making interminable sagas,the likes of "les uns et les autres " and "toute une vie" ;"la bonne année ", "le voyou" "le chat et la souris" and this "Robert et Robert " are graceful works .

The mariage bureau is a subject few directors have broached : the unfairly overlooked "agence matrimoniale" by Le Chanois (1952 )dealt with it ; a quarter of century later, they have changed ,and the computer was already used (the head of the bureau , played by the excellent Jean-Claude Brialy ,is proud of it , and for a good reason ,in 1978 ,it was almost a sci-fi item)

Two clients of the bureau , both called Robert , meet and become friends: i have a marked preference for Villeret :as soon as he appears ,as a self-conscious student gendarme ,he wins over the audience ;not liking him is as perverse as not liking the sun; every time he appears ,he steals the show, even from his co-star Charles Denner ,who is competent but sometimes displays a tendency to overact ; the taxi ,when he sees the warnings and where you can have tea or coffee , is good fun .

Lelouch's directing is fluid, astutely blending reality and dream (the wedding which segues into a music hall performance is an excellent trick); besides he adds some sadness to the bill of fare : the trip to Waterloo (what a choice!) ,organized by the marriage bureau, is no picnic ;one feels the loneliness of these men and women in search of a soul mate in spite of Brialy disguised as Napoleon's efforts to enliven things a bit.

On the other hand , there's filler :the "private club" ,the ball scene which is too long ,the mothers who are both crude caricatures as well as some of the clients of the bureau. And some navel-gazing by the director, who uses again the "un homme et une femme" title song.

But all is forgotten after you watched Villeret ,a gifted actor who disappeared too soon.

"Robert et Robert" (1978) directed by Claude Lelouch is a brilliant film about two lonely and completely different men who met at the a computer dating service. Jacques Villeret is a very shy over-weighed young man who is studying to become a policeman. Charles Denner is a nervous and "difficult" cab driver. Both men are dominated by their strong willed mothers and both are certainly not very successful in finding girls. In this bittersweet tale, Villeret's and Denner's characters are real and touching as two losers whose friendship and compassion help them eventually to fight loneliness and insecurity. Absolutely charming film masterfully shot by Lelouch with great performances from two main characters and the rest of the cast. Music is written by Francis Lai (Un homme et une femme (1966) ... aka A Man and a Woman).

The two Roberts are great. Charles Denner is wonderful(as he always is) as the fussy, abrasive, cab-driver who is still determined to find a woman even if he is already 48 and having very little luck. In one scene he is asked by the man who runs the computer dating service if he is having regular sex. He simply answers, that if he was, he wouldn't be there. The other Robert (Villeret)is the shy naive one who barely speaks above a whisper, but through his new found friendship with the cab-driver Robert, comes out of his shell. He is the politest man you ever met. When cab-driver Robert introduces him to his mother, he greets her with a polite nod and a "madame". Then he is shown a picture of cab-driver Robert's dead father, to which he nods politely and says "Monsieur". The sequence when the boys and all the computer dating clients go to Waterloo for a "get to know someone" trip is very, very funny. I won't spoil it by saying what happens, I'll just suggest that you rent this very touching and funny film and just enjoy.

I don't remember much about this movie because it's been a while that I have seen it, but I remember having laughed very spontaneously and honestly at several places in the movie. The story of two friends having problems to adjust to their environment, there are good performances and a good direction. I wish I could see it again.