I missed this charming Gallic film when it came out last year at my local independent cinema and have eagerly awaited its release on DVD with English subtitles. Finally I got to watch it the other day and was so enraptured / captured by its style and wit that I have watched it three times in total.
It stars Maxime Godart, (Nicolas) Kad Merad, (the father) and Valérie Lemercier (the mother) and a host of other fabulous acting talent young and older. I particularly liked François Damiens ( the unconventional Scandinavian lover in Delicacy) in his small role as a bickering neighbour.
.JPG)
The film was originally released in 2009 in France and was a huge hit. Why we have to wait for these gems to eventually visit the UK I'll never know. This is a nostalgic, beautifully acted film from the original source of books by the Asterix creator, René Goscinny and set in the 1950s. I loved the set pieces and décor and I wanted to move into the street where Nicholas lives because it is sooo French.
The film is directed by
Laurent Tirard (Molière
and recently Astérix et
Obélix - on his Majesty’s
service -2012) and sees the nine year old innocent Nicholas believing
that his parents are going to have a baby and his friends have caused
him to believe that the older siblings get abandoned in the woods
once the new child appears on the scene. When Nicholas becomes
convinced his mum is truly pregnant he and his young friends hatch a
plan to try and make sure the baby never appears.
The other major child actors (mostly boys and one girl) are superb and must have come from the French version of Central casting. I am not familiar with the drawn stories but these lads are great characters and very funny. They are:
Clotaire – bottom of the class but often comes up trumps
Alceste – fat and eats all the time
.JPG)
Eudes – very strong and likes to whack his friends on the nose
Geoffroy – very rich and his father buys him all that he wants
Agnan – teacher's pet, tiny and wears glasses – nobody likes him – but is strangely likable
Joachim – already has a little brother who he claims to hate but really loves him
Maixent – has long legs and runs very fast
Rufus – his father is a policeman and he has a police whistle that he likes to blow
Marie – Edwige – confident young girl who likes Nicholas but he is nervous of her because he's not used to girls
The parents of Nicholas (Merad and LeMercier) are brilliantly funny in this in often quite subtle ways. I've always loved the lugubrious Kad Merad since I saw him in the stunningly funny French film – Welcome to the Sticks (Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis). Danny Boon is also a favourite of mine and appears with Kad in the Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis film. I have read the reviews to this film (French with English subtitles) and they all say how brilliantly funny it is.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this blogpost I thought that the design and set pieces for the streets and interiors were magnificent and really gave a feel of a slightly opulent 1950s Urban France. If this whets your appetite then the DVD can be ordered through this link.
I thoroughly recommend it as a fun few hours for the family. The credits are a work of art in themselves! The French really do excel in funny films.
