This is a delightful and clever French film, whose starting point is a couple of laid back writers who decide to write a rather unfashionable screenplay - a light comedy with an anti-capitalist slant, set in a suburb of Marseille, aiming for the feel of certain French movies of the 1930s. As the writers create their script, we see the resulting film begin to take shape. The main characters, a leftwing family running a small garage, are introduced; relationships and love affairs are established; the "class enemy", a big businessman who owes the family money, enters the picture.
The writers argue about how much sex there should be; they put scenes in and take them out; they have fantasies - a musical scene in a brothel; a tragic ending - but quickly discard them. And by the end of 90 minutes, we have not only enjoyed the unfashionable political film (which has a happy ending), but have been amusingly instructed on the process by which ideas are translated into meaningful cinema.
The writers argue about how much sex there should be; they put scenes in and take them out; they have fantasies - a musical scene in a brothel; a tragic ending - but quickly discard them. And by the end of 90 minutes, we have not only enjoyed the unfashionable political film (which has a happy ending), but have been amusingly instructed on the process by which ideas are translated into meaningful cinema.