Much to the credit of the film, it takes place in a common milieu,and the fact that the desperate lover wants to drowns himself in the Canal Saint Martin might well be a nod to Marcel Carné 's "Hôtel Du Nord " a populist masterpiece .
Gus who wanted to commit suicide is saved by Georges who comes to his rescue;but the savior cannot swim and the person with suicidal tendencies feels compelled to save him;this is a good gag and a good way to introduce the characters Gus (Dupontel) and Georges (the sadly missed Jean Yanne).Grumpy Georges,a hair dresser ,and Gus become inseparable,in spite of the hairstyle the new friend adopt for him,which makes him look like a villein from the Middle Ages .
Gus suggests Georges he enter a hair contest which takes place in Czechoslovakia ,a festival of bad taste : he will be his assistant , justifying the title of the movie ("every man for yourself");sequences which take bad taste to new limits ,from the opening ,which apes cheap sword and sandal movies to the horrible works of the hair dressers (Georges' welcome simplicity being the exception.)
It's a pleasant comedy ,but it does not really make it as a whole ; a desultory screenplay does not help and it takes all Yanne 's talent to make it enjoyable.
