User reviews

I have read a recent interview with Belmondo, saying that the veteran Jean Gabin hate all that new wave french cinema when he was asked to do this movie with young Belmondo, who was, at that time, an actor who was working with the New Wave directors (Godard, Chabrol, Truffaut). But a solid friendship was born when the two men work together on that movie. In fact, the respect and this friendship seems to be very easy to see when we look at this charming movie. It's full of a sense of poetry. It's a movie about friendship, dreams, nostalgia, sadness between two men from different generations. It's also a movie about alcool, in a sense that the beatniks of that era refers to. It's also very well written. Gabin and Belmondo gives a very warm performance. You must see this wonderful movie.

Albert Quentin (Gabin) is running a small hotel in a coastal town in Normandy. He and his wife (Suzanne Flon)have settled down to a dull, peaceful existence heading into old age, when Fouquet (Belmondo), a young man gifted in flamenco dancing and getting very drunk, erupts into their lives. Soon all is turned upside-down, the teetotalling Quentin starts drinking again, and the town is treated to the most spectacular impromptu fireworks display that I can recall seeing in a movie. And that's not all... The acting is good all round: Gabin and Belmondo play off each other very well, Suzanne Flon strikes the right wistful and optimistic notes, and Noel Roquevert is very funny as the owner of a boutique where you can buy just about anything, including fireworks. Gabrielle Dorziat (of Les Parents terribles) has a nice cameo as the director of a girl's school who insists on speaking English.

Henri Verneuil was a very popular director from the 50's to the 70's; without being a real auteur he had a talent for pleasing the audience. Un singe en hiver follows Mélodie en sous-sol with its fine Gabin-Delon pairing, and gave me a lot of pleasure.

A splendid movie for everyone who had a dream and/or came back from it. About dream, excess, life, boredom, and going beyond what life gives you. And alcohol. To watch.

The actors are splendid, both at the best of their style, Gabin, an established, grounded man with a vision, Belmondo as a bold and hot-tempered, troubled young man. Suzanne Flon, Paul Frankeur and Noel Roquevert also strongly support the scenario in their 2nd roles.

The dialogues by Michel Audiard are just splendid. One liners that make you laugh and think beyond the action and that reflect on yourself.

It's a movie for people who dream further.

A very good movie where Belmondo and Gabin performed a so great duet. The story of a man who has stopped drinking- and then dreaming- and who thanks to a young man who tries to forget a lost love in alcohol will turn drunk again during an exciting night. Every man who has ever felt the pleasure of alcohol as a dream and nostalgic catalyst will enjoy watching it. The dialogs are exceptionnal thanks to Michel Audiard.

Un Singe en Hiver is famous for bringing together the France of the first half of the Century, symbolised by its greatest actor, Jean Gabin, and the greatest actor of the second half of the century, Jean Paul Belmondo. It not only brought them together but it created magic on the screen. The chemistry between Gabin and the kid Belmondo is incredible and carries this wonderful, yet simplistic, scenario to perfection.

The movie respects all three Greek units of creation, unity of action (it is the story of a man coming to get his daughter back, who incidentally meets an old man who looks a lot like the man he could become), unity of place, the whole movie takes place in the coastal town of Tigreville, Normandie, and unity of time, the whole movie takes places over 3 or 4 days.

The movie, written by legendary screenwriter Audiard, offers some of the best dialogues ever written for the big screen, it is at the same time a drama and a comedy. It is very much a French movie where, in essence, nothing happens, but a lot is actually being told. Every word carries its weight, every sentence unveils more about the story or the past of the two central characters played by Gabin and Belmondo.

Few movies can equally make you laugh, touch you and inspire you like Henry Vernieul's movie does. It is a story about good men who sometimes need to live a little and entertain themselves, enjoy life and dream a little.

It is unlikely we will ever get a movie like this again, it a jewel to treasure for the end of times.

French films often focus on things that are really quite different from the English/American scene. They're a lot about dialog, attitude, and big(mouthed) iconic protagonists - often less about an obvious moral at the end. This film is neither really a comedy nor a drama, it's like that perfect nuance between the two and borrows from both in a very typically French kind of cynical/blasé way.

Instead of a great big moral as most films around the world usually have which they culminate towards, this one has rather a theme that is omnipresent throughout the developments. It's more like an ongoing element of both lead characters' conscience, or rather subconscious - as the synopsis states: the desire to travel. That irresistible urge to discover or rather rediscover a place exotic, festive and foreign; foreign to the boring old daily, routine life.

As referenced in the first line of this review, French films are best when the dialog is best and this one has the right quality for the ambitions of the story and Gabin and Belmondo both do a very good job, Gabin especially as he seems to have been that very character at some point in his life, understands him so well. Such lines as (speaking to his wife, -paraphrasing): "Suzanne tu n'as que des qualités, mais tu m'emmerdes !" - so French in spirit, and a sentence so heavy with significance as it pertains to the sheltered, redundant gentrified "real" life.

Interesting, well acted out, very good dialog, very well paced and filled up: 7.5/10. My own criticism: perhaps the "dream life" is hinted at too much where the film settles for carrying out the events in the plot while not further exploring that strong element of abstract emotion that remains merely underlying and implied.

In 1962, the year when Henri Verneuil made 'Un singe en hiver', Jean Gabin was 58 years old (younger than Tom Cruise is today!), He was already considered a 'sacred monster' of the French screen and had entered the final phase of his career, that of senatorial roles (including Commissioner Maigret but also the chief of the clan of the Sicilians). Jean-Paul Belmondo was 29 years old and was on the rise, propelled by the films of the French 'New Wave'. Today, both actors are legends, each in his own unique style, having in common the fact that their personalities have amplified their talent and dominated every film in which they appeared. Director Henri Verneuil (who was born in Armenia, his real name was Achod Malakian) has the great merit of bringing them together on screen in this film in which the roles fit them perfectly and the two understand well each other and collaborate wonderfully. It's not the only reason 'Un singe en hiver' is a movie worth watching or reviewing today.

Henri Verneuil was one of the directors who declared himself an adept of the so-called 'quality cinema', criticised and rejected by the directors of the New Wave. And yet, 'Un singe en hiver' demonstrates how relative the categorisations are, and to what extent good films belonging to the same period or film schools get together and find common ground or elements of dialogue. The script is an adaptation of a novel by a writer named Antoine Blondin. Unlike the directors of the New Wave, Verneuil does not leave the actors too much freedom to improvise. However, the feeling of authenticity is pronounced due to the dialogues written by Michel Audiard (an exceptional screenwriter to whom over a hundred French films owe their texts) and the fact that it was difficult and useless to direct the gestures and facial expressions of actors like Gabin and Belmondo. The music (excellent by the way - belongs to Michel Magne) accompanies the moods and marks the story, while the camera is handled with classical caution, which does not prevent us from admiring the quality of cinematography signed by Louis Page, using cinemascope and black and white film . Verneuil filmed very little in the studio for this film. The scenery is all natural, the town of Tigreville in the movie with its streets, cliffs and beaches is Villerville on the coast of Normandy, a coastal city that to this day celebrates the filming that took place there in the early '60s. The subject of the film itself talks about the freedom to be different, a theme dear to the New Wave, and the connection of heroes with alcohol immediately reminds viewers today of the excellent Danish film 'Another Round', this year's Academy Award winner for best film in a foreign language.

Watching Jean Gabin and Jean-Paul Belmondo on screen together is a real treat. Gabin has been cast throughout his career only in a few comedy roles. The one in this movie is one of them and demonstrates how funny and profound he could be at the same time. Belmondo, on the contrary, creates one of the roles in which the charm of his personality hints at a background of humanity with dramatic nuances. Both actors have a lot of fun and it is clear that they feel good together, in this high-level meeting between two characters from different generations played by two great actors from different generations. Noel Roquevert and Paul Frankeur are also part of the cast, in supporting roles, building colourful and authentic characters in a only a few scenes. 'Un singe en hiver' is a tender and funny story, a 'good feeling' film of the '60s whose charm is only amplified by the passage of time.

A monkey in winter... en française, un singe en hiver. Stars jean gabin and suzanne flon as the quentins. They own an inn en tigreville,françe, during world war two. Which is occupied by deutsche soldaten. And gets bombed on a regular basis. Just like albert, the owner.. he's getting bombed on a regular basis. Which his wife doesn't like at all. So one day he makes his wife a promise: if they make it through the war, he'll not drink another drop. But when gabriel, a loud, drunk from madrid, stays at the inn, albert joins him on a drinking binge, and they go to visit gabriel's daughter at the local school. And they cause a commotion all over town. But all grand adventures must end. It's pretty good. Fun to see some of the world war two history and locations on the north coast of françe, all these years later. And that was in 1962. Directed by henri verneuil. He was nominated for the sheep. I really liked his film "burglars" from 1971.

"A Monkey in Winter" is a 1962 French film based on a novel by Antoine Blondin. The most interesting thing about this film is the opening scenes during World War II and the German occupation of the town, Tigreville. It's actually Villerville, a Normandy vacation spot on the English Channel near L'Havre.

The scenic shots of the locale are impressive and interesting. But the aerial scenes of Allied bombers look very strange - as though they might have been cutouts or models filmed. They just don't look real. Obviously, though, the producers obtained some aerial combat film footage from the war that is interspersed here and there.

The plot of two sots in the first part, and then one sot with a returned sot in the second half, wasn't at all entertaining to me. Nor can I imagine why this would be of such interest or entertainment to anyone else. The aspect of Albert Quentin being a day-dreaming dipsomaniac is noted, but for what point or entertainment? This film hardly has anything comical for a supposed comedy-drama.

I know that Jean Gabin and Jean-Paul Belmondo were two great French actors. They made some very good films in their day. And, they are okay with their roles here. But with a plot that is little more than a few days in the lives of a couple of people, with boozing shown as escapism, "A Monkey in Winter" is more of a downer than entertainment. This seemed much like the TV soap series that became popular during that time.

Apparently this was considered something special by French audiences of the day, and the village of Villerville actually has a historical marker from the making of this movie. The one very implausible scene is the huge fireworks display supposedly set off by just three men who carry a few boxes of fireworks from a store and set up and light a huge display on the beach. Another questionable scene is townspeople (it's the off-season so there aren't many visitors) cheering Belmondo's Gabriel Fouquet who stands in the middle of the main traffic square into town and acts as a bull-fighter with a cape to oncoming cars.

I can think of many places where people would think such a guy was nuts, but they surely wouldn't be cheering him on. I spent time in France in 1963 and 1964, but that sort of "humor" wasn't evident along the French Riviera. And, I have had French friends and several acquaintances. Could this be a regional type of humor - of those from Northern France (where Paris is located, of course)? One thinks of the period of the French Revolution when spectators cheered and applauded as people lost their heads in quite another literal way at the guillotine.

One of the townspeople in a cabaret tells Fouquet that "they call this place the California of Normandy." The best lines are a simple exchange between Gabin's Albert Quentin and his wife, Suzanne (played by Suzanne Flon). She says, "Weird hour to arrive, especially in this weather." And, Albert replies, "Travelers are made to travel. The weather doesn't count."

This just isn't much of a film that many might find entertaining.

What could I add more besides everything that has already been told? That's the only picture between Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Gabin. Unfortunately. it was at this time the new generation vs the old one. You will have nearly the same scheme in 2009, with LE VIEIL HOMME ET SON CHIEN, where this time Belmondo will have a short sequence - too short for my own taste - with Jean Dujardin; Belmondo had this time the same position Gabin had with him more than forty five years earlier.

This movie: UN SINGE EN HIVER, is not only a film about drunk people and loneliness, absolutely not, but about the true meaning of life and friendship. And in this film, Jean Gabin plays a old sailor character, the nearly same he will have nine years later in LE DRAPEAU NOIR FLOTTE SUR LA MARMITE, a poignant movie too, even being a comedy written by Michel Audiard.

This long and exhausting ode to drunkenness is as empty and crude as an old uncle's Christmas dinner. Verneuil/Audiard/Blondin are definitely the trio of the rancid French, pathetically served by Belmondo and Gabin, who ham it up. To be watched drunk, but still?

Its lead virtue is to be more than a good comedy. a film about life. and its choices. about two men, in Tigreville. and about the result of that meeting who could change everything. a film about decisions, past strangers and...Spain. nothing new, but all useful in deep sense. because it is a simple film. about simple people. and about the fundamental meanings of existence. and sure, a fine motif for see it remains the presence of Gabin and Belmondo and their almost total seductive performances.