Discover
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Jean-Louis Richard
Writer -
François Truffaut
Director -
Suzanne Schiffman
Writer -
Georges Delerue
Original Music Composer -
Marcel Berbert
Producer -
Monique Dury
Costume Design -
Claude Miller
Production Manager -
Yann Dedet
Editor
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CinemaSerf 5/27/2023 10:41:25 AM
It's quite hard to succinctly review this Truffaut comedy - there is just so much going on. Essentially, Jacqueline Bisset ("Julie") is brought to Nice to star in a movie about a British woman who is married to a Frenchman. She comes to meet his family and promptly falls in love with her husband's father and so leaves him to shack up with his dad. It turns out, as the production progresses that the producer "Bertrand" (Jean Champion) and the director "Ferrand" (Truffaut himself) have to deal with an whole gamut of issues as the cast - all assembled in a small hotel - come with more baggage than the Queen Mary. "Julie" is recovering from a failed marriage and a nervous breakdown; "Séverine" (Valentina Cortese) is having an affair - but with a bottle, and Jean-Pierre Léaud steals the film as the petulant and high-maintenance "Alphonse". It reminded me a little of Fellini's "8½" from ten years earlier, another behind the scenes as a movie is made story - but it could hardly be more different. Here, the cast and the crew could not have been more dysfunctional - a trait of the creative, I believe - but in the end somehow or other there is a chance the film might actually get made! It is good fun, and the odd contribution from Jean-Pierre Aumont help keep this 2 hour extravaganza moving along entertainingly. Georges Delerue's jaunty score compliments the lovely open-ness of this production, and I really enjoyed this film.
Jacqueline Bisset
Julie BakerAlexandra Stewart
StaceyJean-Pierre Léaud
AlphonseNathalie Baye
JoelleJean Champion
BertrandJean-Pierre Aumont
AlexandreFrançois Truffaut
Directeur FerrandNiké Arrighi
Odile