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In this age of giant corporations fighting for our dollars, and sometimes falling like dinosaurs in the forest, it is refreshing to find this French comedy about a chain store scion Martial Pasquier (Daniel Auteuil), who gives way to his impulses and starts a doomed affair with a waitress who supplements her wages with casual prostitution, Francine (Sandrine Bonnaire). Martial's fragile mental state is glossed over--thankfully--so that Sautet can give us some satirical portraits of businessmen without many scruples. Jean-Pierre Marielle's portrayal of Fonfrin, the district manager who has been dipping into the till is worth the time and cost of finding this film. It is a wonderful performance.

Sautet always had a problem, as I saw it, of larding his scripts with too many characters who had their own narratives, which had to be developed at the expense of the story. Max and Georgette have a fair bit of screen time, yet we are not interested in them in the slightest, nor in Martial's mother's hypochondria, nor in the absurd couple who show up at the party dressed as Robin Hood and Marion. The party scene actually works well, because there is enough comic invention to keep the wheels turning briskly. Vincent Lindon plays Fernand, one angle of the love triangle, and he is effective even though his part is not well developed. Sandrine Bonnaire's tremendous talent could have been more fully used, but I am happy with what there is on screen. Daniel Auteuil shows us once again that he is one of the great actors of today: he is almost as good here as he is in Sautet's next picture Un coeur en hiver.

Too many French imports to reach our shores seem cut from the same thin but brightly colored cloth, and this eccentric comedy romance is no exception. As an incidental entertainment it has charm to spare but little depth or ambition, and is just as easy to enjoy as it is to ignore. The film benefits from the combined talents of its two photogenic stars: Auteuil plays a wealthy but disinterested heir to a supermarket kingdom who drifts through life completely unconcerned with either his fortune or his high social standing, until he meets demure maidservant Sandrine Bonnaire. With typical nonchalance he gives her everything she could possibly ask for, including her freedom, and being French she accepts it all with a fatalistic shrug of the shoulders. Because it changes pace and direction with such carefree abandon the film isn't easily pigeonholed, but it's hard not to recommend a story with such a casual attitude toward love and life.