On purge bébé (1931)
Directed by Jean Renoir

Film Review

Jean Renoir's most outrageous comedy, based on a stage play by Georges Feydeau, provides ample material for its comic stars to prove their worth.   Marguerite Pierry, Jacques Louvigny and Michel Simon each provide a comic performance that surpasses genius, whilst a then comparatively unknown actor Fernandel unleashes his talent on an unsuspecting world.  Although not as noteworthy as Renoir's later films of the same decade, On purge bébé is nonetheless a competently realised comic farce, showing the director at his most joyously unrestrained.  What links this film to Renoir's greater films is its carefree mockery of Bourgeois respectability, and seldom does the French Bourgeoisie come in for more mockery than in this hilariously funny film, all in the worst possible taste.

Film Synopsis

Monsieur Follavoine, a leading porcelain manufacturer, has perfected what he believes to be the world's first totally unbreakable chamber pot.  This he hopes to sell to an important government official, Chouilloux, who is looking to place a large order for the French army.  Since it is widely known that Chouilloux's wife has been carrying on an affair with another man, Truchet, Follavoine has seen fit to invite not only Madame Chouilloux to the meeting at his house, but also her lover.  The valuable client's arrival coincides with an ill-timed domestic incident which rapidly gets out of hand.  It seems that Follavoine's capricious little boy Hervé, nicknamed Toto, is suffering from constipation and refuses to take a dose of laxative.

Having recently suffered from the same complaint himself, Chouilloux offers to help Madame Follavoine in purging her troublesome son, but in vain.  In the ensuing confusion, two of Follavoine's supposedly unbreakable pots get smashed to pieces.  Then, when Chouilloux proves unresponsive to her charms, Madame Follavoine turns on him and calls him a cuckold, just as Madame Chouilloux shows up, in the company of her not-so-secret lover.  By now the porcelain maker is at his wits' end.  Without thinking, he imbibes the cursed glass of laxative himself before storming out of his house.  Thinking that her little boy has at last taken his medicine, Madame Follavoine proudly caresses him.