Le Dimanche de la vie (1967)
Directed by Jean Herman

Film Review

After making a number of short films, Jean Herman's filmmaking career got off to a shaky start with this slightly unhinged, if not to say downright weird, comedy, based on a novel by Raymond Queneau.  An anarchic anti-bourgeois piece to which Queneau contributed the dialogue, Le Dimanche de la vie has something of the spirit of May '68 about it.  Its fragmented narrative, lightened by some almost surreal flights of fancy, makes it resemble the kind of dream you would expect to have after taking too many mind-altering drugs.  The psychedelic-feeling narrative jars with the film's Nouvelle Vague-style presentation - filmed in black and white in the manner of the early films of Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Demy, with excessive use of the iris shot favoured by François Truffaut and a score by Georges Delerue, it offers an illusion of familiarity that is constantly undermined by its eccentric humour and wilful lack of form and coherence.

Le Dimanche de la vie is the most original and boldly experimental film that Herman directed and, whilst it is far from being a masterpiece, it is arguably more interesting than his subsequent cinematic offerings.  Its attractions include some bizarre performances from Danielle Darrieux and Jean Rochefort (last seen together in Jacques Poitrenaud's Du grabuge chez les veuves (1964)) - they come scarily close to looking like exhibits in a freak show.  After this cinematic oddity, Herman had some success with two bog-standard thrillers starring Alain Delon - Adieu l'ami (1968) and Jeff (1969) - but then came two further flops that put the kibosh on his film directing career. Under the adopted name Jean Vautrin, he then found acclaim as an author of crime fiction and somehow found time to pen several scripts for films such as Claude Miller's Garde à vue (1981) and Yves Boisset's Canicule (1984).

Film Synopsis

France, 1936.  Julia Ségovie, a mature but not unattractive woman, is leading a contented life as a haberdasher in Le Bouscat, a quaint suburb of Bordeaux, when she falls madly in love.  The object of her infatuation is a devilishly handsome young soldier, Valentin Bru, who walks past her shop every day.  Even though Julia is twenty years older than Valentin, she is determined to marry him.  In this she is supported by her sister Chantal, against the wishes of the latter's husband Paul Brélugat, who fears he may lose an inheritance if the marriage goes ahead.

It isn't long before Julia and Valentin are husband and wife, and settled in Paris, the proud owners of a small boutique that Julia has just inherited from her parents.  As her husband takes up his new profession as a picture framer, Julia discovers she has some talent as a fortune teller.  Julia's second sought provides her with a valuable source of income, but when she falls ill Valentin has to take her place, to the amusement of them both.  The couple's idyllic life is suddenly threatened on the day that war breaks out, but for Julia's opportunistic brother-in-law this proves to be a good omen...