Un éléphant ça trompe énormément (1976)
Directed by Yves Robert

Film Review

The perils and pratfalls of mid-life crisis have inspired many a successful French film comedy, but Yves Robert's Un éléphant ça trompe énormément is the best of the lot - as funny as it is astute in its cruel but keen observation of the fallout of the male menopause, as experienced by a close band of friends. The idea of a story revolving around male friendship appealed to Robert and had been the subject of his earlier film Les Copains (1965). In close collaboration with a superb cast and a gifted screenwriter Jean-Loup Dabadie (with whom he had previously worked with on Clérambard (1969) and Salut l'artiste (1973)), the director managed to deliver one of the finest examples of the French buddy movies (film des potes).

Having started his career as an actor, Robert turned to directing in the mid-1950s and notched up quite a few box office triumphs, including La Guerre des boutons (1961), Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire (1972) and his acclaimed 1990 diptych La Gloire de mon père / Le Château de ma mère.  Un éléphant ça trompe énormément was just one in a series of hits that turbo-financed Robert's film production company; on its first release in France, it attracted an impressive audience of 2.8 million.

The following year, Robert, Dabadie and their four principals worked together on a sequel, Nous irons tous au paradis (1977), which also met with massive public acclaim.  Since then, many subsequent French screenwriters and directors have taken inspiration from these films' winning formula, working it successfully for a contemporary audience - most notably Marc Esposito with Le Coeur des hommes (2003) and its well-received sequels. 

Un éléphant ça trompe énormément's main asset is the irresistible quartet formed by four highly popular actors of the period: Jean Rochefort, Claude Brasseur, Guy Bedos and Victor Lanoux.  Very different in their personas and acting styles. but all instantly likeable, these four complement each other perfectly and turn in nuanced performances that are both true-to-life and hilarious, offering four contrasting yet equally convincing takes on masculinity in the modern age.  Dabadie was familiar with all of these four actors and so was able to tailor his screenplay to their own distinctive character quirks, something that adds greatly to the film's impression of depth and authenticity.

The script is one of Dabadie's best, the tragicomic escapades of the four protagonists punctuated throughout with spoken and visual gags that can hardly fail to get a laugh - no wonder the film is considered a classic.  The sequence in which Jean Rochefort takes up horse riding in order to pursue his amour fou is the stuff of comedy legend, as is the one in which Claude Brasseur smashes up a restaurant whilst passing himself off as a blind man.  There is even a cheeky reference to Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch, with Anny Duperey repeating the famous scene in which Marilyn Monroe's skirt is lifted by a draft from a subway vent.

The film's main claim to fame is that it was the first French film to offer a positive depiction of a homosexual.  For his sympathetic and convincing portrayal of a 40-something gay man, Claude Brasseur was honoured with the César for Best Supporting Actor in 1977.  The film also received César nominations in the categories of Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Anny Duperey).

As happened to a surprising number of French film comedies around this time, Un éléphant ça trompe énormément suffered the indignity of a clumsy American remake; needless to say, the 1984 English-language rehash, The Woman in Red (which Gene Wilder both directed and starred in), was not a patch on the original.

Film Synopsis

Étienne, Simon, Daniel and Bouly are four friends in their forties who enjoy a shared passion for tennis.  Another thing they have in common is that they are all nearing a point of crisis in their private lives; luckily they can count on the others' support to help them through.  Étienne would seem to be the most fortunate of the four.  He has a cushy ministerial job, an attractive wife named Marthe, two daughters and a comfortable Parisian apartment.  But Étienne's well-ordered life suddenly goes off at an unexpected tangent when he catches a glimpse of an alluring young woman in a bright red dress.  From that instant he becomes obsessed with this object of desire and pursues her obsessively, not knowing that she is herself married.

Simon, a doctor, is finding his passage through his middle years no less taxing; a manic hypochondriac, he resents his mother's constant heavy-handed intrusions into his life.  Meanwhile, Daniel, a flamboyant car salesman, is finding it increasingly difficult to conceal from his friends the fact that he is a homosexual.  Even Bouly, an inveterate Don Juan, has his life upended when his wife Marie-Ange walks out on him, taking with her the entire contents of his apartment as she departs.  Long gone are the certainties of youth.  What Étienne and his friends now have to deal with are the fierce lashings of a mid-life tornado...