Le bateau d'Émile

Denys De La Patellière represents the old wave in the sixties;but he is not in the same league as his former colleagues;nevertheless,when the screenplay is good (here based on a novel by Simenon)with the collaboration of Albert Valentin,one of the most gifted overlooked directors of the occupation days ,when the lines are witty (Michel Audiard) ,and when you've got four aces :Michel Simon,Pierre Brasseur,Lino Ventura and Annie Girardot ,you can make something out of it.

The delicious contrast between the posh "attitude"the bourgeois Brasseur and his daughter and Ventura's (and girlfriend's,a semi whore and "Chanteuse" in a seedy nightclub (Mistigri!))patent inability to match it is in the end endearing;in fact Lino Ventura takes after his dad,played by Michel Simon;Simon has only two scenes,but he makes both count:the old man is vulgar ,crude,smart and malicious:if sonny does not inherit,all his dough will go to the ...Jesuits ,care of sister Angélique! "Le Bateau D'Emile " aka "Le Homard Flambé" (lobster flambé)is a put-down of the bourgeoisie and a hymn to bohemian life in which stuffed clams are more important that all the money in the world.