...and though the movie was awarded two prices,it's never screened on TV.
François Reichenbach was a specialist in documentaries :he made a lot about America ,but also portraits of Orson Welles and Serge Gainsbourg.
"Un Coeur Gros Comme Ca " is a semi-documentary ,candid camera shooting ,"and the persons do not know where and when they are filmed ";that's what the lines claim in the cast and credits.It seems only partially true.
Abdulaye Faye,23 ,is a young black man from Senegal.While working in a factory ,he is training for a boxing match.
He is an endearing guy, a bit naive,but,as the title reads ,he's really big-hearted .
We follow him through the streets of Paris ...
1)France: "Here ,white people are afraid of black guys;in my country ,it's the other way about;besides ,White people have dirty houses ;in Dakar ,our houses are white"
2)Women :his ideal woman is Michele Morgan who has a cameo in the film :"should you meet her, talk about her legs,not about her thighs ",says a compassionate fellow traveler ,or tell her " T'As De Beaux Yeux Tu Sais" . He meets a Japanese girl and they go boating but their relationship comes to a sudden end:she's married . There are women on the streets ,and ,as Paul Simon would sing "he does declare he took some comfort there" but he quickly adds: "it's better to be married".
3)Religion :Abdulaye is a true believer,he puts his trust in God ;he gambles on God,more like, a little like philosopher Pascal. But there's a very long sequence in a fortune-teller's house whose fortune cookie predictions can be summed up as "when there's a will,there's a way".Her strange methods consist of ink-blood tests ,like in psychiatry ,as well as tarots.
4)Boxing: as Abdulaye has no diplomas ,he is an unskilled worker and to become a champion is his wildest dream;he tells his hopes in voice over ,or to a blind masseur . The movie ends with two boxing matches ;the first one is particularly interesting:we never see the fighters ,but the reactions on the audience's faces -we catch a glimpse of Jean- Paul Belmondo ,who attends the championship.
It is by no means Nouvelle Vague stuff:it's the story of a young man who has to struggle to do his walk of life,he 's got no time to contemplate his navel or to aimlessly wander on the streets of Paris.
Like this? Try this ....
"L'Air De Paris" ,Marcel Carné ,1954
