Rendez-moi ma peau... (1980)
Directed by Patrick Schulmann

Film Review

With its frothy mix of burlesque comedy, occult fantasy and keen satire, Rendez-moi ma peau ought to be a first rate comic film.  Unfortunately, the film veers to extreme silliness on far too many occasions and its lack of sophistication and self-restraint is often more tiring than entertaining.  That said, there is some great comedy in this film, the best scenes being those where the body-exchanged victims try to continue their lives as if nothing has happened.  The obvious jokes about sexual inequality in the home and the workplace are made, although, alas, this kind of intelligent satire takes up a comparatively small part of the film.  Most of the film is concerned with increasingly bizarre methods of fortune-telling and wizardry.

Film Synopsis

Zora is a witch who cannot bear the prospect that she is gradually losing her magical powers.  Only one person can help her - the Grand Master - and she needs to get to him as quickly as she can.  As she sets off in a mad hurry Zora soon gets involved in a road accident, which she blames on two mortals - a television repair man named Jean-Pierre and a housewife, Marie.  Zora is not in a forgiving mood.  Without a moment's reflection she punishes her two victims by giving them each other's body.  Jean-Pierre now inhabits the body of a woman, Marie that of a man.

It is not an arrangement that suits either of the two young people, so as Zora hurries off for her vital interview with the Grand Master, they make a pact to work together to find the bad-tempered witch and force her to reverse the body swap.  Realising that they need professional help in this, they engage the services of a private detective, Hector Shoms.  As Jean-Pierre and Marie struggle to adapt to their new lifestyles, Shoms and his faithful assistant Datson set out to find Zora, blissfully unaware of the hazards that lie ahead.  Meddling with witchcraft is a dangerous business...