Un moment d'égarement

Claude Berri could be counted on to turn out solid entertainment. Tchao Pantin was a great vehicle for Coluche, Manon des Sources was terrific for Daniel Auteuil's and Emmanuelle Beart's careers, as well as providing a fine part for the aging Yves Montand. Un Moment has the same formula: a good script plus the visual appeal of the Riviera provide enjoyment.

Marielle, tall and graceful, and Lanoux, shorter and bull-like (remember him as the lover in Cousin, Cousine) play well off each other. Agnes Soral, with her hawk nose and easy wit, does a fine job as Marielle's lover. Christine Dejoux, playing Marielle's very discontented daughter is even more darkly unhappy than Demi Moore was in the remake.

If I were doing this story, I'd have a cast switch: Michelle Pfeiffer and Lorraine Bracco as the parents, Hayden Christenson and Emile Hirsch as the kids. I sometimes feel we need to challenge the patriarchal culture of Hollywood, make it possible for two middle-aged women to have as much fun as men.

I saw both in the theater, and preferred this to the remake. It's so long ago, it's hard to be specific. But the characters seemed to be less of nitwits.

This is a simple but really fine film; well scripted, sensitively directed by Claude Berri, and in places almost memorably acted. It is warm and to me rings true to life. I saw it as a TV presentation, but once I started viewing it I would have been most reluctant to be dragged away from the screen. The version I saw was dubbed in English - I would have preferred sub-titles but the dubbing was certainly better here than is often the case. Four years after it was released Stanley Donen re-filmed this story in Hollywood with a South American setting ("Blame it on Rio"). His film is 20 minutes longer and is presented as an overlong, straight and rather broad comedy, most of which is basically pretty boring to watch - it provides a classic example of the way in which Hollywood has so often demonstrated it can seldom attain the sensitivity shown by good French films.

I believe this film is still listed as available on tape, but in my view it would certainly warrant release as a DVD.

To begin with, unlike the others, I will not talk more about the remakes than about this film. We had decided to watch a film at random. While searching for films from 1977, we saw the poster and saw that Marielle was in it, so the choice was quickly made. When we started, we saw "a film by Berri" and the casting announced the presence of Lola - well no, sorry, it's Soral, the actress! But I am still in shock at the power of Tchao Pantin. So this film, I didn't really feel it... and finally, everything happened as I like: slow action and in-depth characters, a limited number of interactions that allow us to focus on psychology. The action is subtle but very present. The actor Marielle, who I expected to be funny as is very often the case, surprised me a lot with his excellent acting. The young Soral is amazing, so fresh, youthful, full of life and innocence. Even Lanoux, who in other later roles can sometimes seem a bit heavy, has managed to keep a form of reclusion, which allows a psychological force to shine through in his acting. Bravo and thank you for this excellent surprise! A great film, but of course, it is a "film d'auteur" and not a big formatted production, so not everyone will necessarily find what they are looking for.

The plot of this film--two fathers take their teenage daughters to the beach, and one has a sexual affair with the other friend's daughter who is also his daughter's best friend--may seem familiar to Americans of a certain age. That's because this French movie was re-made in 1984 as the film "Blame It on Rio" with Michael Caine. "Blame It on Rio" was strangely sold back then as one the "Porky's"-style sex comedies of the era, which typically focused on adolescent boys who were trying to "lose it". And while adolescent boys of the 80's no doubt enjoyed seeing voluptuous lead actress Michelle Johnson in all her glory (and that movie also marked the rather inauspicious debut of Demi Moore), it's doubtful too many of them could really relate to the middle-aged angst of the male protagonist played by Caine. This theme though is MUCH more common in French movies of the 70's and 80's (in fact the 17-year-old actress here Agnes Sorral is a relatively mature young woman compared to the objects of middle-aged male affection in movies like "Beau Pere").

This is a more serious movie then "Blame It on Rio", but like that film the end is kind of a cop-out that doesn't really puncture the middle-age male fantasy. But that's alright I guess. Ironically, this movie has an adult sensibility to it that is a lot more mature and less "teen-obsessed" than the entire entertainment culture of America today. (Although they would NEVER make a mainstream film like this today in America, we do have 10,000 "barely legal" hardcore porn videos and an entire culture that generally seems to be aimed at people with a fifteen-year-old mentality).

This kind of reminded me of a David Hamilton film, but it is much better made dramatically speaking. And while I'll always have a certain misbegotten affection for "Blame It on Rio" (which I first saw as a teenager), this is the better movie.