My second Guitry, and a step down from 'La Poison', but a delightfully amoral spree nonetheless, filled with the French love of life and the French life of love.
It opens intriguingly enough, with a burglar surprising a potential suicide (the conversation which then follows between the two of them is classic Guitry) but sags a little in the middle with all the stuff in the rest home, and loses steam somewhat from then on. The courtroom scene is funny and I found myself wondering if Roberto Benigni had been influenced by the guy who wanders into the witness stand and then procedes to take over.
On the downside, the sets look cheap and ugly, more like television than film. The camerawork is for the most part flat and uninspired. Also the sound is very noticeably patchy and poor, and this doesn't seem to be because of the transfer. The ending feels like a Looney Tunes cartoon. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
In the end, it's a lively and enjoyable film, if one which falls some way short of a classic.
It opens intriguingly enough, with a burglar surprising a potential suicide (the conversation which then follows between the two of them is classic Guitry) but sags a little in the middle with all the stuff in the rest home, and loses steam somewhat from then on. The courtroom scene is funny and I found myself wondering if Roberto Benigni had been influenced by the guy who wanders into the witness stand and then procedes to take over.
On the downside, the sets look cheap and ugly, more like television than film. The camerawork is for the most part flat and uninspired. Also the sound is very noticeably patchy and poor, and this doesn't seem to be because of the transfer. The ending feels like a Looney Tunes cartoon. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
In the end, it's a lively and enjoyable film, if one which falls some way short of a classic.