A friend is calling this afternoon so we are going to have a French comedy double bill - Francois Ozon's delicious POTICHE from 2010, and his 2002 all-star comedy, 8 WOMEN. I have blogged about them before here (Ozon, Deneuve labels). Deneuve is quietly hilarious as the now rather portly trophy housewife who has to take over the family umbrella factory when her obnoxious husband (Fabrice Lucini, above with Deneuve) antagonises the workers and then has a a stroke ..... Catherine comes to the rescue, re-organises the factory, gets re-acquainted with her former love, Gerard Depardieu, and then has to deal with the treachery of her husband and daughter. But her son Laurent (Jeremie Renier - no, not Jeremy Renner) helps her both at the factory, where he designs new umbrelleas, and then to become elected to local government. It is amusing to see Laurent, below, getting gayer scene by scene as the movie progresses ....
Catherine too is blissfully funny out jogging in her tracksuit and noting nature all around her. Its a treat, and that 1970s ambience is perfect too.
8 WOMEN is marvellous too with all those colours, and those actresses - Deneuve, Fanny Ardant, the elderly Danielle Darrieux, Beart, Huppert, Ledoyen, Seigner, in their element.
The very prolific (and, like Pedro Almodovar, openly gay) Ozon ( right) has come up with some films we like a lot: the very affecting TIME TO LEAVE and UNDER THE SAND, the intriguing THE SWIMMING POOL, and the recent amusing DANS LE MAISON .... (Ozon, French labels).
Spooky, I watched Potiche just last night! Have fun.
ReplyDelete