Les Barbouzes

This one obviously goes over some people's heads; chacun a son gout, etc.! Very different from "Tontons flingeurs": that's a comedy, this is a PARODY . If you're a fan of "Kind Hearts and Coronets", it's a very similar deadpan black humour. (It's also rather like "The Avengers" - not the dreary superhero movies, but the nonpareil TV series with Diana Rigg and Patrick McNee.). A very droll script, amusing touches in the direction and mise-en-scene, elegant black-and-white photography, very nice musical score, ludicrous action sequences, delightful performances all round. There's a very consistent tone, like in the best "art films"; it rings true like a bell. It looks like the cast had terrific fun making it. Not everyone's going to like it, but: I say, give it a try!

...and I'm sorry I did, because this one is just so weak. Script by Audiard, direction by Lautner, male lead Ventura: the winning combination that made Les Tontons flingueurs so enjoyable fails miserably here. It's a spy story, see, and the French, Italian, Swiss and Russian spies, plus a whole bunch of other people are trying to kill each other to come up with the formulas for superweapons. The action is drawn out and repetitive, the corpses just mount up and the audience is not charmed by the humour (there are almost no laughs in this).

Lino Ventura and Mireille Darc as the odd couple are at least fun to look at. I have always been a fan of hers; love those pert eyes and big giblet lips that are bigger than Mick Jagger's. Watch for Jess Hahn as the American spy, he's a funny guy.

You can do nothing but laugh when you watch this one : spies from different countries try to get some plans owned by a rich man who died recently. The most important thing is the actors playing : this latter are at they best (Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, Francis Blanche, Noel Roquevert, Robert Darban). Watch the movie on french to appreciate the actors speaking talent !

It's comedy but you don't laugh. The best actor is Bernard Blier, I love him, in other movies! Same, Lino Ventura, I love him too, again, in other films. Just a little bit funny here are Jess Hahn and Francis Blanche. The whole movie is a long, long talk inside a castle. Indeed, there are some fights and shootings too, but they all look exactly the same. And there are some more similar scenes on a train.

A tipically popular French movie of the 60s with great actor, great dialogues and a directing, if not very clean, efficient in spite of modest means. However,scenario is flatter than in others Audiard's movies and some scenes are too long to be funny. Movie as a whole is endless and a sharper, more concise style would have been benefic to the drama. I still recommend to see this movie, which remains creative, and which is a real, in opposition with e.g. "Austin Powers", a parody of a parody (James Bonds) only based on gimmiks. "Les Barbouzes" is a stand-alone movie, a piece in the great wall of cine-history, which is not Mike Meier's art.