Monsieur (1964)
Directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois

Film Review

Following his lavish blockbuster adaptation of Les Misérables, Jean-Paul Le Chanois subsequently worked with Jean Gabin on two further films, Monsieur (1964) and Le Jardinier d'Argenteuil (1965). Both of these films are comic farces - of the kind that were much beloved by French cinema audiences at the time - and both feature Gabin in a gentle comic role which makes a marked contrast to the tough screen persona he had created for himself in the 1950s and 1960s.  Although Gabin generally appears far less at ease in this kind of film than in straight dramas or policiers, in Monsieur he gives a pleasing performance, playing, for once, a genuinely likeable character, albeit one with a rough edge.

Monsieur is arguably the most satisfying of Gabin's comic films, mainly on account of its impressive cast which, in addition to the superlative Gabin, offers an array of acting talent. Mireille Darc, a very popular actress at the time, makes the perfect companion to Gabin's character; Philippe Noiret and Liselotte Pulver delight as the classical bourgeois couple, complete with nauseating grown-up children and a venomous grandmother (one of Gaby Morlay's best creations); Gabrielle Dorziat and Henri Crémieux make an impressive double act as the money grasping in-laws; the delightful Andrex leads a band of inept burglars in a sequence which makes a titillating parody of the gangster genre; and that scarcely describes half of what the film has to offer.

Although Monsieur fails to match up to the quality of Le Chanois's earlier works, which includes such gems as the gripping wartime drama Les Évadés (1955) and topical piece dealing with single motherhood Sans laisser d'adresse (1951), it does have great entertainment value, thanks to its very witty dialogue and a pleasing string of comic situations.  It is interesting to note that acclaimed director Claude Sautet worked on the film's script - one of his lesser known credits, and one which is easily overlooked in the light of his subsequent cinematic achievements.

Film Synopsis

So distraught is he by the death of his wife that René Duchesne, a successful banker, is driven to suicide.  He is about to throw himself into the River Seine when his former housemaid Suzanne appears from nowhere and calls out to him.  René is incredulous when the latter reveals to him that, before she died in a car accident, his wife was having an affair with another man.  Astonishment soon turns to disgust and René hastily revises his plans.  Instead of drowning himself, he will begin a new life as an international gangster named Monsieur.  In doing so, he manages to free Suzanne, now a prostitute, from her undeserving pimp.  René's first criminal exploit is to rob his own house.  When his greedy relatives look in his safe they will be in for a nasty surprise...

For his next escapade, René gets himself hired as a valet named Georges to a well-heeled bourgeois family, the Bernadacs, with Suzanne accompanying him as a chambermaid.  René's employers turn out to be an amiable set, although Suzanne soon finds herself on the receiving end of the amorous intentions of the son of the household, Alain.  With his impeccable manners, Georges would seem to be the ideal manservant, and it is thanks to him that the mistress of the house, Elizabeth, is able to save her marriage to Edmond, the husband who has been neglecting her recently.  Meanwhile, René's in-laws have discovered what they believe to be his dead body and are ready to claim their inheritance.  The ex-banker is about to give them another shock when he suddenly returns from the dead...