Heureux qui comme Ulysse (1970)
Directed by Henri Colpi

Film Review

An incomparable star of French cinema for four decades, having appeared in over 150 films, the legendary comic actor Fernandel bowed out gracefully in Heureux qui comme Ulysse, a somewhat mawkish but nonetheless amiable comedy-drama that recalls his earlier great film, La Vache et le prisonnier (1959).  The film was based on an American novel published a few years earlier, The Homecoming by Marlena Frick, and directed by a virtual unknown, Henri Colpi.

As a film editor, Colpi had worked on some important films of the 1950s and '60s, most notably Alain Resnais's Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and L'Année dernière à Marienbad (1961), turning to directing late in his career.  Fernandel's swansong was the fourth of five features he directed for the cinema; he was more prolific in French television, helming such popular serials as Thibaud (1969) and L'Île mystérieuse (1973).

With its picturesque Provençal setting, sedate pace and fairly naturalistic performances, Heureux qui comme Ulysse is strongly evocative of the films that Fernandel made with director Marcel Pagnol at the start of his career, understated rural melodramas such as Angèle (1934) and Regain (1937).  This impression is reinforced by the welcome presence of another Pagnol regular, Rellys, a likeable comic actor who famously played Ugolin in the original Manon des sources (1952).  Rellys and Fernandel worked together several times before this, on such films as Honoré de Marseille (1956) and Crésus (1960).

Fernandel may be looking a little long in the tooth (at the time he was only 66), be still hasn't lost that beguiling aura of childhood innocence that accompanied him throughout his career, nor his ability to engage with our emotions, making us laugh or weep, as and when the occasion arises.  As he did so marvellously on his earlier Henri Verneuil film, the horse-faced actor seems to develop an incredibly close rapport with his non-human co-star, this time a horse that is way past its best.  It is this relationship, a kinship of two souls nearing the end of their mortal existence, that makes the film so moving and prevents it from drowning in sentimentality.  It is so easy to read into the film a sobering allegory on the way that contemporary society treats its elderly citizens when they are no longer deemed to be of any value.  The title song, sung by Georges Brassens and composed by Georges Delerue, adds greatly to the film's haunting wistfulness.

Through its authentic performances, sensitively written script and stunning location photography, Heureux qui comme Ulysse now impresses as one of the better films that Fernandel lent his talents to in his final decade, and arguably one of the finest of his career.  At the time of its first release in July 1970, however, it was considered a failure as it only attracted an audience of one million, far below what previous Fernandel films regularly achieved.  After making this film, the actor was to reprise one of his best-known roles in Don Camillo et ses Contestataires, but filming had barely got under way when he had to give up work, incapacitated by a cancer illness that had been troubling him for some time.  Seven months after the release of his final film, Fernandel passed away, on 26th February 1971.

Film Synopsis

Antonin is an ageing farmhand who leads a peaceful existence in a small village in Provence.  One day, his employer gives him an errand that he would rather not discharge - to take his old farm horse Ulysse to Arles, to end his days in the bullring.  The prospect that his old friend should meet with such a brutal and ignominious death, on the end of a picador's lance, is more than Antonin can bear.  He has spent over twenty-five years attending to the animal and in that time they have become the closest of friends.  If only he had the money, he would buy the horse and keep him for himself.  But, alas, Antonin is a poor man and so the best he can do is to take Ulysse to Carmargue and see what turns up.  Arriving in Arles, the old man is witness to the horrors of the bullring and cannot bear that his treasured Ulysse should suffer the same fate.  Now he sees that there is only one course open to him: he must let the old horse go free, to live out its remaining days in peace...