Certains l'aiment... froide (1960)
Directed by Jean Bastia, Guy Lionel

Film Review

Despite one or two good plot ideas, a handful of amusing comic situations (including a brilliant cellulite gag) and a very cheeky title (a pun on the French re-title of Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959) - Certains l'aiment chaud), this is pretty mediocre comedy which, whilst entertaining in places, doesn't add up to much.  The thing that just about passes for a plot quickly dissolves into a chaotic series of loosely connected sketches, with the humour spread increasingly thinly as the film progresses. By the mid-point, it's clear the writers have used up their best jokes and from there on it's an uphill struggle.

It's not all bad, however - the deficiencies in the script are at least partly compensated by some ebullient comedy performances.  As ever, the face-contorting genius Louis de Funès gives great entertainment value - and it's not hard to see why he would, a few years later, become one of the top comic actors in France.  Incredible as it may seem, Fufu is very nearly out-staged by another great comedian, the popular and (thankfully) unique Francis Blanche in what is almost certainly his most outrageously over-the-top performance - and quite possibly one of the most outrageous film performances ever .  In fact there's no shortage of nutcases in this film. Some of the supporting cast give even Blanche a pretty good run for his money in the lunatics-are-us league.

Film Synopsis

Before he dies on 4th July 1759, the Marquis of Valmorin drafts a will which he insists will not be opened until 200 years have passed.  The ones who inherit his vast fortune will not be his own children, but their descendents.  Two centuries later, Valmorin's hopeful heirs come from all over the world to attend the reading of the will and are dismayed by what they hear.  It seems the marquis's fortune will only pass to the descendent who has an incurable illness.  On hearing this stipulation, one of the potential heirs drops dead from a heart attack and another falls ill and returns to his home country, refusing to have any part of the legacy.  This leaves only five candidates.  William Walmorin tries to pass himself off as a madman, but ends up being commited to an asylum.  Mathilde Valmorin feigns deafness but is found out and disqualified, as is Ingrid Valmorin when it is discovered that her supposed skin disorder is pure fabrication.  Luigi Valmorin's attempt to fake medical evidence with the help of a nurse he has seduced is soon exposed.  The only one of the five who turns out to be genuinely ill is Pierre Valmorin.  After many attempts to catch an infectious disease he ends up with a serious heart condition.  Unfortunately, the X-ray that proves this actually belongs to Luigi, but he is disqualified because he is in prison.  With none of marquis's descendents in the running it looks as if his fortune will pass to Leboiteux and Meyer, the descendents of Valmorin's trusty lawyer and creditor.  Before they can claim their prize another potential heir shows up unexpectedly...