Tout ou rien

I haven't see this movie for years but remember loving it. It is devilishly clever and beautifully filmed, with a great cast, especially Alan Bates. I had forgotten the name of it and now that I have found it, I plan to buy it for my personal collection. Let's face it, you almost can't go wrong with a British comedy and this is one of the best.

What a superb film in my opinion difficult to beat. The British system slyly used to the main characters advantage . Alan Bates and Denholm Elliot excel in this classy tongue in cheek rendition of how to succeed. A film worthy of release particularly since the demise of both main stars.

Its a wonder this movie has been recently shown on the TV in the UK, a certain movie called Saltburn is currently having a moment which bears many similarities.

This is a British 1960's romp in which an ambitious man happens upon an upper class waster who has been shunned social and lost his job as a result of being caught committing fraud. The lead sees this as an opportunity to climb the social ladder from his lower middle class rung onto the one occupied by the upper classes. He does this by offering the waster a proposition, free board in exchange for being taught the social ropes of the upper class. He agrees and that's where things get interesting.

In order not to spoil the plot, this does get very dark two thirds of the way through. Its tone is that of a dark comedy/satire and as a result its actually quite difficult to second guess where the narrative will go. As a result its a highly entertaining watch. Of course its dated in terms of music but not so much in terms of the upper classes who haven't budged an inch into modernity lest it alter their identity.

This would be a great companion piece to Saltburn as it is a very similar story but without the obvious meme generating scenes shoehorned into Saltburn which didn't add to the story, but were simply there in order to hijack social media and generate interest into what is at best an average movie. This one however manages to keep you engaged because its simply a well told story. Even if it is quite a bitter one.

It's not very good, i could live without watching it, too much plot armor and the pace is uneven : At times, it seems it's gonna be great but it's never becoming that interesting neither intense.

Yet, it was a fun ride. Bates is charismatic and delightful to watch, same as Elliott and Martin. There are even some unpredictable moments, i'll spare the details in order to avoid spoilers. Overall it's enjoyable and dark comedy fans will enjoy it mostly. But for sure, it's not as clever as it thinks it is and you are gonna need a lot of suspension of disbelief in order to buy what is happening here.

Ending is exactly as the previous moments. Not as clever as they thought, and if you think it thoroughly, it doesn't even make sense. But as i said, actors are so charismatic that they make it work.

I cannot recall having even heard of this movie until I saw it advertised in the TV listings as part of a series of British movies otherwise unrelated to each other in any way. The cast is wonderful particularly Denholm Elliot. Alan Bates gives the part the bland vacancy it requires. The song that opens the movie was of its time and was so bad I almost stopped watching. And the rest of the movie is never quite right. The movie tries to tell the story that Lindsay Anderson told so well in O Lucky Man, and falls far short...but most movies fall short of O Lucky Man. It's worth seeing for another reason: it illustrates very well the mentality that led to Margaret Thatcher.