Les Copains du dimanche (1958)
Directed by Henri Aisner

Film Review

Les Copains du dimanche is an enchanting - albeit somewhat simplistic - film showing how personal fulfilment and camaraderie may be found when labouring on a shared project.  The film was commissioned by the Confédération générale du travail (CGT), a confederation of trade unions in France, and therefore has on obvious socialist agenda.  As a result, the film was intended only for private screenings at CGT meetings and was never shown (at the time) in public cinemas.

The film does labour the point somewhat, but its central message, that almost anything can be achieved by human beings working together in an environment of mutual trust and respect, does hit home with a certain warmth.  It's a message that is encapsulated in a catchy camp-fire song which serves as the film's anthem.  "You can do anything with your ten fingers.  All you have to do is take them out of your pockets."  The trade union ethic of progress through conciliation is a strong theme of the film, although it does push the film into unnecessary sentimentality on one or two occasions.

The direction, script and acting are not brilliant but they are good enough for a film that has no greater pretension than to preach the worth of solidairity.  The film effectively conveys the frustration that was felt by many young people of the 1950s who had to work long hours, six days a week.  The sense of release and satisfaction that the characters reveal as they participate in their new-found Sunday diversion is both convincing and moving.  The film's photography shows a few surprising flourishes, such as the shots of the aeroplanes in flight.

Les Copains du dimanche is of particular interest because it is the first commercial film to feature the legendary French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, and his first in a leading role.  (He wouldn't become a star until he had played the part of d'Artagnan in a television adaptation of Dumas' The Three Musketeers a few years later, shortly after which he had his movie break with Jean-Luc Godards's A bout de souffle (1960).). Here Belmondo plays an 18-year old youth who, weary of his work as a factory machine worker, experiences a sudden burst of joie de vivre when a friend allows him to fly with him in an aeroplane.  The actor's amiable persona easily makes him the star of the film, and looking at him here you can see straight away that he was bound to become a major star of French cinema.

Film Synopsis

A small group of young people who work in a factory spend their weekends trying to renovate a light aircraft.  They are helped by a former RAF pilot who discovers a new lease of life in the project.  Unfortunately, all have underestimated the administrative difficulties of creating an aircraft club.  Although they manage to get the aeroplane working it appears that they will not be legally allowed to fly it.  Their dreams appear to be dashed.