Mado (1976)
Directed by Claude Sautet

Film Review

Carrying on the themes explored by Claude Sautet in Vincent, François, Paul... et les autres (1974) - friendship, midlife crisis, social conflict - Mado feels like a natural continuation of that film, although the tone is noticeably more downbeat, its allusions to life in modern day France more pertinent and depressing.  In common with much of Sautet's best work, Mado is both a meticulously drawn character study (the subject here being a strong-willed but flawed businessman with whom the director felt a strong affinity) and an astute portrait of contemporary French society.  The corporate chicanery, floundering economy and burgeoning class divide depicted in the film are all representative of France in the mid-1970s, and it is curious how all this still has a resonance today, forty years after the film was made.

For his fourth and final collaboration with Claude Sautet, Michel Piccoli regales us with one of his most admirable performances, bringing a startling reality to his portrayal of a steely but likeable businessman who can buy everything except the love of the one woman who offers him solace, namely the titular Mado.  Piccoli typifies the nobler, more humane stratum of the French bourgeoisie with which Sautet associated himself - as distinct from the much nastier, self-interested hoard represented by a Mafia-like land developer portrayed (brilliantly) by Julien Guiomar.  Piccoli's character may be a fully paid up member of the ruling elite but he is not totally detached from the concerns of the working class.  In the film's bizarre (almost Buñuellian) ending, Piccoli and his coterie of hardnosed executive types end up partying in the mud with the lower orders, an exhibition of solidarity that is brought about by a serendipitous stroke of misfortune.  This sequence is inter-cut with another in which Piccoli's sinister rival indulges in some more underhand dealings, using his power purely for selfish motives.  The conclusion to Mado is elusively allegorical but you can't help detecting a note of bitter irony.  What price social equality if we all end up with yokes slung around our necks by corporate gangsters?

As ever, Sautet assembles a top notch cast which brings together not only established performers - Claude Dauphin, Jean Bouise, André Falcon and Charles Denner - but also some talented newcomers, in the form of Jacques Dutronc and Nathalie Baye.  Ottavia Piccolo is an effective (but hardly inspired) choice for the role of the free-spirited prostitute Mado, who ends up resembling a vague cliché of the liberated modern woman - her character would be more fully developed in Sautet's next film, Une histoire simple (1978).  The most memorable female presence is that of Romy Schneider, although she appears in all but a few scenes.  In one excruciatingly poignant scene, Schneider appears aged way beyond her years, totally convincing as a middle-aged woman battling against alcoholism.  It is such a spellbinding performance (a prophetic glimpse of what the actress would become within a few years, following multiple tragedies in her own life) that you can't help wishing Sautet had ditched the uninteresting Mado and made Schneider's Hélène the central character in the drama.  As it happened, the director made up for this with his next film, giving the divine Romy one of her greatest roles.

Film Synopsis

Simon Léotard is a 50-something real estate financier who finds himself in dire straits when his business partner of many years, Julien, commits suicide.  He is left with accumulated debts of six million francs which he has no hope of clearing.  His private life is no less turbulent than his professional life, thanks to his relationship with his mistress Mado, a part-time prostitute who is unsure what direction to take in her life.  The only way that Simon can avoid bankruptcy is to sell his business, and in his ruthless business rival Lépidon he finds he has a ready buyer.

Unfortunately, Lépidon's offer is substantially below what the company is worth, and Simon is unwilling to allow such an unscrupulous piece of work to profit from his misfortune.  Instead, he intends fighting back by adopting his enemy's own dubious business tactics.  Through Mado, Simon makes the acquaintance of a blackmailer, Manecca, who brings him into contact with one of Lépidon's dodgy associates, a civil servant named Barachet.  It is through the later that Simon can strike back and resolve all of his problems, with uncharacteristic cunning...