Philippe de Broca was a filmmaker known for his lavish adventure films, from "Cartouche", to "Le magnifique". His 1983 film, "l'Africain", is also one such movie, but fails to amaze, due to its weak plot and script.
"L'Africain's" story revolves around a travel agent (Catherine Deneuve), who goes to Africa hoping to relax after months of stressful work in France. There, she meets her husband (Philippe Noiret), and the two decide to protect the local elephant populations from the poachers with the help of a British conservationist (Jacques François).
Released the same year as another film recounting the antics of a travel agent, the comedy "Banzaï", with Coluche, "l'Africain" offers a resoundingly different view to the same profession. Deneuve's character is always stressed, but respects the natives in the places she visits. She is a universalist, believing that everyone should protect the animals, so for her, discriminations don't help in accomplishing her goal. Coluche, on the other hand, interpreted his travel agent hero with brashness and a bit of vulgarity, him being a racist traditional Frenchman who hates communicating with strangers. Since his only goal is to get married, he has no moral obligation to respect anyone, and so he doesn't.
Interesting to note is the historical setting in which de Broca's film was released. In 1983, the environmentalist movement had resurged, and "l'Africain" could be interpreted as one of many works with environmentalistic character that were released in France that and the next year. There was even an animated series, "Bibifoc", showing the adventures of a young seal and its two human friends, who were fighting the evil hunters in the Antarctica. If "Bibifoc" made many empathize with the seals' cruel fate, then "l'Africain" tried to convince people to do so for the elephants' one. That it didn't succeed owes more to its weaknesses movie-wise.
First of all, the direction is extremely slow-paced, with de Broca spending most of the film showing the viewers the reunion of Deneuve and Noiret. When the last sequence arrives, where the real action takes place, the viewers have lost their interest for the film, and - in my case, at least - pay no attention to what happens.
When the performances are concerned, they were disappointing. Deneuve and Noiret don't make for a convincing couple, and their scenes together seem extremely artificial. Jacques François is quite embarrassing to watch when playing a British man, since he employs the all-too-common in French films technique of speaking French with a heavy (fake) British accent. His confrontation with the couple is generally very toned-down and doesn't hold one's interest for long.
Whilst the cinematography is satisfactory, emphasizing the wonderful landscape of Africa, its combination with such weak plot and acting don't do it any justice.
All in all, "L'Africain" is a film with an admirable concept, that is badly-executed and thus loses all of its charm. Instead of sitting through it, I would suggest taking a look at the other French environmentalist classic, "Bibifoc", which, for all its innocence and childishness, still retains some degree of sweetness.
And, of course, one of the catchiest credits of a French series;
Bibi- Bibi - Bibi- Bibifoc,
Dans l'Antarctique, t'es roi des phoques...
