Au bonheur des ogres (2013)
Directed by Nicolas Bary

Film Review

Director Nicolas Bary's follow up to his debut feature Les Enfants de Timpelbach (2007) is another idiosyncratic fantasy, this time adapted from the first of Daniel Pennac's popular novels featuring the blighted Malaussène family.  Bary's penchant for weirdly overblown stylisation is even more in evidence in this second feature, a rumbustious romp almost collapses under the weights of its artistic pretensions and multiple story strands.  Au bonheur des ogres is feisty family entertainment, packed with visual humour that can hardly fail to get a laugh, but you can't help thinking that if Bary had shown a little more restraint a far, far better film may have resulted.

Raphaël Personnaz makes a sympathetic down-trodden hero in the Chaplin line, the familiar comedy stooge who gets the blame for just about everything, despite his best efforts to make the world a better place.  Here he is effectively partnered with Bérénice Bejo, an actress who comedic talents and sensual allure have already been exploited in such mainstream hits as OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions (2006) and The Artist (2011).  The distinguished Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica turns up in a substantial supporting role, presumably because he couldn't think of anything better to do with his time.  The bevy of child actors are typically (for a lowbrow French comedy) nauseating, although the chaotic plot and needlessly flashy special effects soon manage to trounce this source of irritation.  Pennac's deliciously dark humour somehow manages to get lost in translation to the big screen, so all that we get is a somewhat muddled comedy that is too adult for children and too childish for adults.

Film Synopsis

The Malaussènes are a strange family, and you might almost call them shady.  But, on closer inspection, they are a merry crowd, with a mother who carelessly accumulates children as she leaps from one romantic adventure to another.  Benjamin, the eldest of the brood, is the scapegoat for any calamity, but his life is far from boring.  Wherever he goes, trouble follows him, and he soon attracts the wary attention of the police and his work colleagues.  To clear his name, he begins his own investigation, assisted by an intrepid journalist,  Aunt Julia...