There's a hint at Bergman's "Viskningar och Rop" (cries and whispers)and the way the bubble head girl pronounces the famous director's name is worth the price of admission;as Pascal Thomas's first effort ("Les ZoZOs")partly took place in Swede ,who could say the French director did not make art house cinema?
Bernard Menez has grown up into one of the two blokes of Thomas's debut ;he is a grown up teenager,so to speak ,and whilst his friends have married and settled down ,he enjoys his bachelor's life ;he is ,as the title reads,a "Chaud Lapin" (= randy devil),even if his attempts at having sex with every girl around are not always successful (the girl fan of Bergman and Antonioni is rather ugly,and his long nose does not make him Alain Delon.
This is country "Theâtre De Boulevard " ,in the beautiful Provence landscapes ,near the Mount Ventoux.Our libidinous hero follows one of his pals on holiday where his friend meets his family : he intends to seduce his sisters ;but all his attempts fail dismally.
This is often funny ,with every so often really good lines ;the best moment is perhaps the walk to the "Chateau" Du Marquis De Sade ;the funny lines come thick and fast :" It's not for children!" " Is there a torture chamber?" "He wrote "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" didn't he? (But the eighteen years old ingenue does know his works).
In spite of Jacques Lourcelles's collaboration -he is one of my favorite movie critics-, the ending shows an egregious liking for scatology and the "Geronimo" episode ,with the hero running stark naked in the country turns the comedy into a crude farce.
A big plus: at the time,French movies used to feature FRENCH songs (and not English ones which come at the most awkward moment in contemporary flicks): Leny Escudero 's "Ballade A Sylvie "is nicely used,as a wistful daddy dances with his daughter ,a little child .
Bernard Menez used to portray the awkward lump of a youth ,not very smart ,but who did believe he was a lady killer;he would often play this character in the French seventies.
