L'aile ou la cuisse

Just a word of "advice" at the beginning: Don't watch this film while you're eating. Maybe you wouldn't want to keep your food after the second half of the film!

This film I've seen for the first time as a child. You love Louis de Funès when you're child. He is the best clown you can get. Then you grow older and you think: ah, silly. Then you grow even older and suddenly you see the film again (it's out just now on DVD to celebrate the master's "90th birthday" in the next week) and laugh tears. Yes, the film is silly like so many French comedies, fast, hectic and silly. But still the idea for the script is brilliant and the "message" works today as it did in the 70s.

The most funny thing about the film for a German, though, is the fact that they dubbed more lines than are actually said in the French original. I just realized this with the new DVD. For the first time ever I heard Funès in French and with the subtitles on I wondered after a while why so often there were subtitles but no dialogue. They actually tried to make it even funnier in the German dubbed version with more dialogue when you can't see the lips or when the lips are moved but nothing is said. It came as quite a shock to me. We have weird ways of treating film in this country...

Anyway, this is probably the best film Funès ever did and if you want to see only one of his films, then let it be this one. You won't be disappointed.

I first saw "L'aile ou la cuisse" as a little kid, with my nose glued to the screen, and when I saw it again as a grown man, my children and grandchildren gathered around my feet, stroking my white beard and smoking a pipe, it was amazing how many of the jokes I could still remember verbatim. To me Louis de Funès is one of the greatest comedic actors, and I could sit for hours just watching a loop of him when he goes "Ooh!", his content "petit bonhomme" face exploding in a brief moment of heartfelt, yet premeditated rage; unfortunately he often squandered his talent in formulaic money makers such as the "Gendarme of St. Tropez" series (not that I wouldn't love those either, but they are more "good for a few laughs" than "must - see classic"). In "L'Aile ou la cuisse", finally, Funès talent is matched with a decent director and story line, allowing him to remain true to his schtick while gaining depth (not a lot, but just enough).

"L'aile ou la cuisse" is this type of film: if one day I should watch it and not find it funny anymore, then I know that it's time for me to leave this earth. Thank you Louis!

If it takes me to explain to you that the French take their cuisine very seriously, you probably have just arrived on this planet and seek somebody to take you to our leader. Sure, cheese that reek like dead mans feet, stuffed duck or escargot (that's snails, in case you live in the States) are not everybody's cup of tea. But taste is debatable. Quality is not and for things concerning (culinary) quality, you need not look further than La Belle France. It doesn't come as a huge surprise hence that many French films concern themselves with the kitchen and even less of a surprise that master-comedian (and passionate chef in his own rights) Louis de Funes would eventually take the topic on.

Publicist Charles Duchemin (de Funes) is the bane of all French restaurants: His food-guide bestows the much coveted Duchemin-Stars upon the restaurants (or takes them away if warranted – which is more often the case than not). Having some of the keenest taste-buds in all of France, Duchemin takes it upon himself to "test" the individual restaurants, usually disguised as a harmless (looking) old lady or an American tourist. But Duchemin has a nemesis of his own: scheming Jacques Tricatel (deliciously slimy Julien Guiomar), industrial food-producer that delivers virtually artificial food to chains and roadside Inns. Being challenged to a TV-interview by Tricatel, Duchemin (after having almost been 'poisoned' by eating some of Tricatels produces) has lost his sense of taste, yet must save French cuisine somehow.

It is my firm opinion that de Funes later films were also his best. This goes for "The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob", his second-to-last feature "The Cabbage Soup" as well as "L'aile ou la cuisine", filmed shortly after de Funes had recovered from a massive heart-attack. Perhaps it was his failing health and age that made the comedian (slightly) move away from his hyper-paced screen-persona to a more subtle humour (despite all the typical trademarks still being present, albeit tuned down). In the past, de Funes sidekicks had a hard time not being paled out by de Funes performance, but in his later years you could tell, that the comedian timed his humour so as to give the other cast-member some breathing space. In this case comedian Coluche, playing de Funes son and reluctant partner-in-crime, who would rather be a circus-clown than a connoisseur. Like de Funes, Coluche has mastered the art of physical slapstick without turning the gags into an infantile farce. The scene, where he inherently mimics a waiter with a nervous disorder, is pure slapstick gold, turning it almost into an art-form.

Apart from being one of de Funes last few films, it does have a rather depressing prophecy. If you have travelled through France and Belgium, the hearts of European cuisine in recent days, you will have noticed the abundance of fast-food-joints in the cities and highway-stops. You may even have tried the grub there (I refuse to call it food) and, if you have seen the film, you may have looked around, looking whether you'd spot the "Tricatel"-logo anywhere, perhaps printed on the thigh of a chicken – if indeed chicken it was that they were serving.

Still, the film remains a delight and a clean 8/10

"Breast or Leg?" opens the last chapter of Louis de Funès' career before his death in 1983. Following the decline of his health, caused by a stroke in 1975, he looked older and thinner than usual, much different from his last energetic and spectacular performance in "The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob". Indeed, he would never have to act 'mad' whether in the crazy or angry sense of the word.

Actually, this was less a medical clause than the actor's personal desire: mortality rhymed with maturity. Yet, from the public's perspective, he was still known for his hilarious tantrums à la Donald Duck, his grimaces, and his unique way to play sneaky individuals, authoritarian with the weak, and submissive with the strong, De Funès created a character most French people could identify with: the average bourgeois little chief. And in France, people went to see a De Funès movie not a film with De Funès. In 1976, they had waited for 3 years, the longest time the box-office champ ever deserted the screen.

I insist on this, because this is one of the cases where you can't judge the film out of its context: De Funès' health called for a more restrained acting and because his absence left some room for newcomers, Claude Zidi the director wanted Pierre Richard, the rising (goofy) face of French Comedy to play De Funès' son. Richard declined the script, unconvinced, so the role went to Coluche, another comedic legend who could at least provide the physical energy usually expected from De Funès. As a matter of fact, it was still hard to steal the veteran's thunder and De Funès didn't play a static role either. Still, the script was in all nuance and soberness, which was in line with the character of Charles Duchemin, food critic and editor of a famous touristic guide, obviously a fictionalization of the 'Michelin'.

This isn't the first time De Funès plays a figure in the world of cooking: he was 10 years earlier the head of "The Great Restaurant" and he was the perfect ambassador of French gastronomy. Here he strikes again as a judge who give restaurants stars that can multiply their benefits by three or ten, either remove them, or worse, give a disastrous critic, causing their bankruptcy. The movie is very attentive to show all the aspects of Duchemin's job, from the office work to the way he takes wine and sauces with syringes and put them in little containers hidden in his suits, and 'accidental' entrances in the kitchens. De Funès can put on his most popular trademarks, disguises: from an old woman to an American tourist etc. And these parts go from appetizing to heart-wrenching moments, swinging between the best and the worst that can ever land in your plate.

It is also a nice touch to have his chauffeur (played by veteran actor Henri Buissières) sitting at the same table during some of these culinary escapades, they're like people who've known each other for a long time. There is also Marcel Dalio ("Rabbi Jacob") as the tailor and Claude Gensac, who played many times De Funès' wife and she makes a touching cameo as his secretary Marguerite. Actually, the film is filled of true and endearing movie characters, on the top of them: Coluche as Gérard, the son, a circus performer who'd better wear his clowns suit than daddy's new Academician uniform. We have here a sweet father-and-son subplot as Gérard doesn't want to hurt his father's feelings and needs his money anyway to make the circus work. And talk about bad luck, just when he finds the guts to tell his father he wants to quit, a new Dutch secretary comes to join them. Her name is Marguerite, like the former, except that she's blonde and younger and very cute, Gérard stays. We know his constant round-trips between the circus and the restaurants won't last and the obligatory confrontation is tackled with humor and a kind of resigned silent anger, a real departure from De Funès' usual antics.

But all the nice touches wouldn't have worked if the film didn't have an antagonist of the same magnitude as Duchemin. And this is the element that sealed the film's ticket to posterity: everyone remembers the name 'Tricatel', the symbol of French industrial food, the nemesis of healthy, traditional, hand-made cooking, an opportunistic CEO, inspired by Jacques Borel, the inventor of 'road-restaurants' along the highways, and who obtained tax decreases for food products. Tricatel built his fortune on highways too, then bought declining restaurant and provided them food from his factories, and one of the most memorable sequences is the discovery of the scientific (but not very orthodox) mechanisms of food-making (calling it cooking would be a blasphemy).

Character actor Julien Guiomar, plays the role of a lifetime, forever remembered as the 'Tricatel' guy, a name that has even supplanted Borel as a synonym of bad food in French pop-culture. And while Guiomar and Coluche can get energetic and physical, in between, De Funès has the crusader's quiet strength and still manages to be funny in his usual register. And the final confrontation in Phillippe Bouvard's show delivers a remarkable showcase of acting and one of De Funès' finest moment when he's guessing the name of a wine.

"Breast or Leg?" is a pivotal movie in De Funès' career and ever since I saw it at the age of 9, I never forgot the whole "Duchemin vs. Tricatel" antagonism and that hilarious clown sequence with Coluche, so typical of De Funès' movies to be appealing for kid and adults, or the adults they become. Also a honorable mention to Vladimir Cosma who signed one of his most memorable scores, starting with the pompous solemnity of French gastronomy and then a light-hearted kitschy tune, as if it was illustrating the real exhilaration of cooking, it's more about fun than stars... which can actually be said about the film.

This is almost the last movie of this giant french actor who can squeeze my heart as no one else. His big heart, his class, his musical beat and his funniness shine as never and he is blessed to give the torch to a spiritual son, Coluche. I don't find any other movie where two generations are together on screen: Funes was the best in France in 60-70 and Coluche followed him for 70-80. Sadly, Coluche died young and 30 years later, no one takes the seat. Thus, this reunion is exceptional and the movie is as funny as prophetic: Funes is the old wealthy world, Coluche is the common people and the great villain, Ticastel, is the new industrial leader. Those who loved France will be happy because you can see Paris and the country when it was still developing. The offices and factories are brand new. And for sure, the main subject is about a french emblem, the food. It's true now that we cook some industrial food and that the fight fast-food / restaurant is heavy. The movie is totally right when it depicts french waiter as unpleasant. In conclusion, have a taste of this fantastic french flavor!