La Meilleure façon de marcher (1976)
Directed by Claude Miller

Film Review

It was immediately after he concluded his seven year stint as production manager to François Truffaut that Claude Miller made his own directing debut, with a film which, like Truffaut's own debut feature, drew heavily on its author's childhood experiences.  La Meilleure façon de marcher is a daring and surprisingly mature film for a novice filmmaker, one which explores, with immense subtlety and honesty, issues of gender identity and male conflict.  It is a film that takes the familiar stereotypes and rips them to pieces, showing that human nature is far more complex and far more ambiguous than most films would have us believe.  Miller would frequently revisit the subject of identity in his subsequent work, but rarely would he grasp the nettle quite so fearlessly as he does in this remarkable first film.

When we first meet them, the main protagonists in the film, Marc and Philippe, look like the most egregious extremes of male stereotyping.   The first is a macho, sports obsessed lout who revels in filthy jokes and regards reading as self-abuse for intellectuals.  The second is a sensitive, artistic type who loathes sport and is repulsed by vulgarity, plus he likes dressing up in women's clothing.  The two characters have absolutely nothing in common and their antipathy for one another is evident right from the start.  With the few miniscule brain cells that he has at his disposal, Marc soon arrives at the conclusion that Philippe is a closet homosexual and is naturally shocked, if not incredulous, to learn that he has a girlfriend (and a stunner at that). 

Marc may play the alpha male for all it is worth but his sexuality is even more ambiguous than Philippe's, and when he agrees to kiss and make up with Philippe it is quite evident that there is a darker meaning to his offer to exchange favours with his unlikely buddy.  It is this angst-ridden uncertainty of who they really are which draws Marc and Philippe to one another and locks them in a relationship of mutual sadomasochistic dependency.  Why does Philippe put up with the relentless humiliation that Marc doles out to him?  Why doesn't Marc ever get bored with bullying a man he considers his inferior in every sense of the word?  The answer soon becomes apparent.  Both characters are desperately searching for an identity and they each see the other as the key that will unlock his own personal mystery.  (The impression that Marc and Philippe are two of a kind is reinforced by the fact that the actors playing them have, coincidentally, the same first name.)

Miller not only directed the film, he also wrote the screenplay, in collaboration with Luc Béraud, who worked on several of his subsequent films.  Whilst the direction and writing both have  much to commend them, it is evident that the film's main selling point is the inspired casting of Patrick Dewaere and Patrick Bouchitey for the two main roles.  Dewaere needs no introduction - he is so adept at playing complex, self-destructive mavericks that it is hard to imagine anyone else for the part of Marc (although Miller did originally consider Philippe Léotard).  In what is probably his most unsympathetic screen portrayal, Dewaere does just about everything an actor can do to alienate himself from the audience (including kicking a football straight into a child's face) and yet his performance is as enthralling as ever and you can only admire his commitment and courage to play the part for all it is worth.

You'd think that to play a leading role alongside an actor of Patrick Dewaere's charisma and energy would be a pretty thankless task but Patrick Bouchitey proves otherwise with his equally compelling portrayal of Philippe, the effeminate, studious antagonist to Dewaere's crude Neanderthal brute.  Bouchitey succeeds in bringing as much complexity and depth to his character as Dewaere does, and the two portrayals complement one another perfectly whilst also evincing some striking similarities.  Beneath the surface, Philippe is just as confused and destructive as Marc, and it isn't until the film's dramatic denouement that we realise how alike the two characters are.  Both have the same despicable propensity for thoughtless cruelty - it just takes a little longer for Philippe to show his true colours and thereby break the spell that binds him to his tormentor.

Whilst Dewaere and Bouchitey take centre stage for most of the film, Miller skilfully arranges things so that his supporting cast are not entirely wasted.  The on-going psychological duel between Marc and Philippe is periodically gatecrashed by some badly needed moments of light relief provided by Claude Piéplu, who is magnificent as the summer camp's hopelessly ineffectual director.  The enchanting Christine Pascal provides another very welcome diversion in the role of the film's one and only female character, and Michel Blanc makes an impact in one of his very first screen portrayals, not long before he found national celebrity through his appearances in a string of cult comedies that included the hit Les Bonzés.

La Meilleure façon de marcher was both a critical and commercial success when it was first released in 1976.  The following year, it was nominated for six Césars - in categories that included Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Dewaere) - but it only won the award for Best Cinematography (a worthy recompense for Bruno Nuytten).  Alas, Miller was unable to repeat this success with his next film, Dites-lui que je l'aime (1977), which proved to be an enormous flop.  Miller very nearly gave up filmmaking for good after this failure but, after a few years in the cultural wilderness that is advertising, he returned triumphantly in the early eighties with two films that secured his reputation as one of France's leading auteur filmmakers Garde à vue (1981) and Mortelle randonnée (1983).  How does the old song go?  La meilleure façon de marcher, c'est encore la nôtre, c'est de mettre un pied devant l'autre et de recommencer...

© James Travers 2012

The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.

Next Claude Miller film:
Garde à vue (1981)

Film Synopsis

In the summer of 1960, Marc and Philippe work as supervisors in a French summer camp for boys.  Their different methods of treating their young charges reflect their different personalities.  Marc, an extrovert bully, leads his boys as if they were rookie soldiers, subjecting them to a gruelling schedule of sport and drill exercises.  Philippe, by contrast, is a quieter, kinder man, who is more concerned with developing his boys' artistic talents.  The two men co-exist comfortably side-by-side until one day Marc sees Philippe dressed up as a woman in his room.  From that day, Marc is determined to make Philippe's life a misery.  He humiliates Philippe in front of his fellow supervisors and then his girlfriend, Chantal.  Finally, Philippe can take no more.  His self-esteem in tatters, he is driven to take a drastic revenge against his tormenter…