Writer/director Francis Véber introduced the buffoonish Francois Pignon to the world in 'L'Emmerdeur' to great effect in the person of Jacques Brel and this terminally irritating character has since been reincarnated by Jacques Villaret and Pierre Richard and here it is the turn of Daniel Auteuil.
The film would have us believe that Pignon has already been disowned by his wife and is facing the sack from an accounting job for being just plain dull. In reality of course the world is full of excruciatingly dull people who enjoy happy marriages and successful careers but leaving that aside, he is advised by a kindly neighbour that the only way to avoid being fired is to pretend to emerge from the closet. That the advice should come from one who is actually 'gay' and has previously been fired for being so is one of the film's ironies.
The fascination here lies in the fact that despite neither changing his behaviour nor camping it up, the way in which he is perceived by others changes radically, not least by homophobic rugby coach Félix and sexy female colleague Mlle Bertrand who suspects he is faking it and discovers first hand that she is right!
Auteuil is perfectly cast and again utilises his blank and neutral expression to great effect and Gérard Depardieu, one of Véber's regular performers, is magnificent as Félix whose eventual obsession becomes pitiable. Michel Aumont is beautifully understated whilst both Jean Rochefort and Thierry LHermitte do their very best in thankless roles and have evidently been cast with a view to the box office. For this viewer at any rate the standout performance comes from the Mlle Bertand of Michele Laroque, an artiste who possesses not just the Gallic 'Je ne sais quoi' but a rare and potent combination of sex appeal and comedic ability.
This amusing take on office politics and the curse of our age, Political Correctness, pretty well avoids the puerile and has thus far, to my knowledge, escaped the obligatory neutered Hollywood remake.
The film would have us believe that Pignon has already been disowned by his wife and is facing the sack from an accounting job for being just plain dull. In reality of course the world is full of excruciatingly dull people who enjoy happy marriages and successful careers but leaving that aside, he is advised by a kindly neighbour that the only way to avoid being fired is to pretend to emerge from the closet. That the advice should come from one who is actually 'gay' and has previously been fired for being so is one of the film's ironies.
The fascination here lies in the fact that despite neither changing his behaviour nor camping it up, the way in which he is perceived by others changes radically, not least by homophobic rugby coach Félix and sexy female colleague Mlle Bertrand who suspects he is faking it and discovers first hand that she is right!
Auteuil is perfectly cast and again utilises his blank and neutral expression to great effect and Gérard Depardieu, one of Véber's regular performers, is magnificent as Félix whose eventual obsession becomes pitiable. Michel Aumont is beautifully understated whilst both Jean Rochefort and Thierry LHermitte do their very best in thankless roles and have evidently been cast with a view to the box office. For this viewer at any rate the standout performance comes from the Mlle Bertand of Michele Laroque, an artiste who possesses not just the Gallic 'Je ne sais quoi' but a rare and potent combination of sex appeal and comedic ability.
This amusing take on office politics and the curse of our age, Political Correctness, pretty well avoids the puerile and has thus far, to my knowledge, escaped the obligatory neutered Hollywood remake.