Le Père Noël a les yeux bleus (1966)
Directed by Jean Eustache

Film Review

Jean Eustache's first film is a fifty minute wry, slightly melancholic examination of 1960s French youth, from the point of view of a slightly marginalised and impoverished young man.  As with all of Eustache's films, this film shows the director's eye for detail and an intense sympathy with his subject matter.  Eustache was a late contributor to the French New Wave, but his contribution, small though it is, is significant.  In many ways, Le Père Noël a les yeux bleus manages to capture the very essence of the New Wave cinema, with its apparently improvised dialogue, expansive location shots, young rebellious characters, and an intense feeling of freshness.

The film was made with some spare film which Jean-Luc Godard had left over after making Maculin, Féminin, and the similarity with that film is very noticeable. Jean-Pierre Léaud is the lead actor in both films, although in Eustache's film his character is slightly closer to the solitary rebel Antoine Doinel which he played in an earlier film, Les Quatres cents coups.  (Having Léaud gazing at his own image in a poster for that film was one stunt Eustache obviously couldn't resist pulling - self indulgent but very funny.)

Léaud may not be the best choice for a pavement Santa Claus but he is perfect material for Eustache's brand of introspective, slightly anarchistic, cinema.  He would go on to play the lead role in Eustache's best film, La maman et la putain, which is widely regarded as one of the triumphs of French cinema.

Film Synopsis

Daniel is an unemployed young man who lives in the southern French town of Narbonne.  When he isn't busy chatting up pretty girls, he is indulging in various little scams with his friends to earn himself a bit of badly needed cash.  Daniel's financial situation is pretty desperate and he urgently needs money to buy himself a new duffel coat.  One day, he has a stroke of good fortune when he is approached by a photographer and asked if he will pose as Santa Claus on the pavement.  Daniel accepts the commission readily and suddenly finds that, in the guise of Father Christmas, with a thick white beard to hide his embarrassment, he is treated far more sympathetically by people - particularly those of the opposite sex...