Pardon Mon Affaire [Un Eléphant Ça Trompe Énormément] *** (1976, Jean Rochefort, Claude Brasseur, Guy Bedos, Victor Lanoux, Danièle Delorme, Anny Duperey) – Classic Movie Review 9228

Co-writer/ director Yves Robert’s 1976 comedy Pardon Mon Affaire [Un Eléphant Ça Trompe Énormément] is the French original of Gene Wilder’s 1984 American hit The Woman in Red. It shows the efforts of Étienne (Jean Rochefort), a middle-class, happily married man, to pursue an affair with the girl of his dreams, the beautiful billboard model Charlotte (Anny Duperey), the woman in a red dress.

The jokes are thrown in thick and fast, and, while some hit, at least an equal number fall flat. But Pardon Mon Affaire is overall still funny, and is mostly saved by the attractive quality of the very watchable acting, notably from Rochefort and Danièle Delorme as his film wife, Marthe Dorsay.

Director Robert concentrates as much on the angst of the four male buddies, Etienne, Daniel, Simon et Bouly (Rochefort, Claude Brasseur, Guy Bedos, Victor Lanoux) going through a mid-life crisis as he does on the central relationship, which gives the film a depth the American movie rarely touches on.

Also in the cast are Martine Sarcey, Marthe Villalonga, Louise Conte, Maurice Bénichou and Christophe Bourseiller.

The writers are Jean-Loup Dabadie (scenario and dialogue) and Yves Robert (scenario).

Robert and his actors all met up again for the disappointing sequel Pardon Mon Affaire Too! [Nous irons tous au paradis].

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9228

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