Year 1965 produced two movies treating the occupation days in WW2 in France as comedies ; there was "la grande vadrouille" ,which was the sixities biggest blockbuster in the country ; and there was "la vie de château " which was awarded the prestigious "prix Louis Delluc ": coincidence ,Mary Marquet , an actress who was encouraged in her youth by Sarah Bernardt ,is featured in both movies, but her part is more important in Rappeneau's work.
A work which has elegance, finesse and humor going for it ; in the first fifteen minutes,if you have not read the outline, I dare you to guess it happens during the German occupation ; Jérôme (the role fit Noiret as a glove) is neither a collaborator ( in spite of his mom's woud be influential connection with general von Busch )nor a resistant fighter ;in his desirable castle (check the title= life in luxury) it seems that time stood still and he acts as if nothing has happened ,his only concern is that someone is stealing his apples in his cellar ! His wife (Deneuve) is bored to death and longs for Paris (she ,too,does not seem to be aware of the starving Parisians' condition ,a place where black market is the rule).
The commandeering of the château by a German regiment will make the difference ; first reluctantly ,they have to help a paratrooper (like in "la grande vadrouille" ,but Rappeneau's treatment is diametrically opposed to Oury's );to make the matter worse ,both the resistant and the German officer fall in love with Marie .
Many hilarious scenes : the paratrooper's standing ovation for the photographs of the landing place (or is it because of Deneuve's pictures included by mistake in the projection ?); the officer surprising the so called brother kissing his sister.
From the cast and credits ,it is an hymn to the beauty of Catherine Deneuve,rarely more lovelingly filmed even in black and white than here .
It shows, in the end, that the personal is personal ,as well as commitment and resistance.
A work which has elegance, finesse and humor going for it ; in the first fifteen minutes,if you have not read the outline, I dare you to guess it happens during the German occupation ; Jérôme (the role fit Noiret as a glove) is neither a collaborator ( in spite of his mom's woud be influential connection with general von Busch )nor a resistant fighter ;in his desirable castle (check the title= life in luxury) it seems that time stood still and he acts as if nothing has happened ,his only concern is that someone is stealing his apples in his cellar ! His wife (Deneuve) is bored to death and longs for Paris (she ,too,does not seem to be aware of the starving Parisians' condition ,a place where black market is the rule).
The commandeering of the château by a German regiment will make the difference ; first reluctantly ,they have to help a paratrooper (like in "la grande vadrouille" ,but Rappeneau's treatment is diametrically opposed to Oury's );to make the matter worse ,both the resistant and the German officer fall in love with Marie .
Many hilarious scenes : the paratrooper's standing ovation for the photographs of the landing place (or is it because of Deneuve's pictures included by mistake in the projection ?); the officer surprising the so called brother kissing his sister.
From the cast and credits ,it is an hymn to the beauty of Catherine Deneuve,rarely more lovelingly filmed even in black and white than here .
It shows, in the end, that the personal is personal ,as well as commitment and resistance.