Les Babas Cool (1981)
Directed by François Leterrier

Film Review

Released in the early 1980s, Les Babas-cool (also known as Quand tu seras débloqué, fais-moi signe!) is certainly a film of its time, managing to pour savage scorn on the hippy lifestyle of the 1960s whilst reflecting growing public discontentment with the way the modern world was heading, bringing ecological disaster and a lack of personal well-being in its wake.  The film's somewhat pessimistic slant - which essentially reruns the old viewpoint that all Utopias fail in the end - now feels somewhat forced and blinkered.  The idea that we are always doomed to come a cropper in our pursuit of Eden, with the corollary that it is better to stay in the heaving rat race as willing accomplices in a system that will inevitably bring about the destruction of our eco-system, is grim, even by the standards of French cinema.

Odder still is that the film should be directed by fifty-something journeyman François Leterrier, whose best claim to fame is playing the lead in Robert Bresson's classic prison drama Un condamné à mort s'est échappé (1956).  Leterrier turned to directing in the early 1960s, although his directorial output is far from distinguished, ranging from the curiosity piece Un roi sans divertissement (1963) to the dreary soft-porn offering Good-bye, Emmanuelle (1977).  Les Babas-cool was one of a number of pretty flimsy mainstream comedies that Leterrier put his name to in the 1970s, better examples being Va voir maman, papa travaille (1978) and Je vais craquer (1980). 

Although the film has little to offer on either the writing or directing fronts, it benefits from a scintillating ensemble of comedic talent that includes many members of the popular comedy troupe L'Equipe du splendid, who starred in such films as Les Bronzés (1978) - namely Christian Clavier, Marie-Anne Chazel, Martin Lamotte and Anémone.  Philippe Léotard, Catherine Frot, Richard Bohringer and Charlotte de Turckheim all add lustre to the impressive cast list and if the film has any depth or substance to it at all it is down to their authentic, well-judged contributions.  Without being either particularly funny or profound, the film feels like a missed opportunity, failing to address contemporary concerns as to where society is heading and whether any plausible alternative can ever exist.  But with such a talented cast at its disposal the film can hardly fail to entertain, even with such a mediocre director as Leterrier at the helm.

Film Synopsis

Antoine Bonfils, a travelling salesman, is happily wending his way down a country road in deepest Provence when his car suddenly breaks down.  He needs a drop of water and as luck would have it he immediately comes across an isolated country house with a fountain.  He is helping himself to some water when he is astonished to catch sight of a naked and very desirable young woman.  The latter, Aline, explains that she belongs to a small community consisting of individuals who have turned their back on the modern world and now seek to live as nature intended, without the strains and excesses of contemporary life.

It is a mode of existence that immediately appeals to Antoine and, after a heated argument with his girlfriend in Paris, he returns to the commune and asks to be permitted to stay.  He is welcomed into the group by its members, who include the goatherd Gilles, eco-warrior Tania, mystic Alexandra, astrologist Véronique, ex-teacher Jean-Pierre and willing converts Marie-Jo and Blaise.  Aline re-joins the commune with her new lover, Francis.  Antoine's idea of Paradise Regained turns out to be a childish illusion, particularly where Aline is concerned, and it isn't long before the happy community begins to fall apart amid a firestorm of recrimination and broken ideals...