Only a few years have passed since the end of World War II and food is still scarce. All over France people are involved in some kind of smuggling, with packages of ham, sausages or butter appearing and disappearing in strange and manifold ways. One evening an ageing gentleman discovers an unattended package that looks - oh celestial delight ! - as though it might contain something tasty. He takes home the package and unwraps it in front of his unsuspecting wife. The contents, sadly enough, have very little to do with food, unless one happens to be a cannibal...
"Tête blonde" is a comedy about an older gentleman who commits a small theft and finds himself embroiled in a murder enquiry. It's a quirky black comedy with a very individual sense of humour. I watched it with a degree of pleasure but I would not call it entirely successful, since the idea of some poor young woman's corpse cut into pieces is not quite as funny as the various makers of the movie believed it to be. There are also a number of plot holes. For instance, at one point in the movie a plucky young woman discovers the identity of the real killer - but don't ask me how or based on what evidence. Millions of men all over France would have made equally plausible or implausible suspects.
The ending of the movie also seems to point at the birth of an unusually disquieting ménage-à-trois, although I may be too 21st-century cynical here.
Still, some of the scenes are pretty funny and some of the barbs land nicely in a deserving backside. People familiar with the workings of criminal law will recognize the kind of barrister involved : an expensive, diva-like egotist in love with his own eloquence, for whom the actual wishes or needs of the client are far less important than the marvellous tale he can spin in front of a spell-bound audience. Also enjoyable : the dance sequence with people trying to do the jive or the jitterbug, or the scene where our unfortunate protagonist meets with a self-declared expert on the faking of lunacy. I would not be surprised to discover that there still exist people trying out a few of the same general ideas...
So anyway, "Tête blonde" isn't too bad. However I would recommend the superior "Le mort en fuite", for a better screenplay and more frequent laughs.
"Tête blonde" is a comedy about an older gentleman who commits a small theft and finds himself embroiled in a murder enquiry. It's a quirky black comedy with a very individual sense of humour. I watched it with a degree of pleasure but I would not call it entirely successful, since the idea of some poor young woman's corpse cut into pieces is not quite as funny as the various makers of the movie believed it to be. There are also a number of plot holes. For instance, at one point in the movie a plucky young woman discovers the identity of the real killer - but don't ask me how or based on what evidence. Millions of men all over France would have made equally plausible or implausible suspects.
The ending of the movie also seems to point at the birth of an unusually disquieting ménage-à-trois, although I may be too 21st-century cynical here.
Still, some of the scenes are pretty funny and some of the barbs land nicely in a deserving backside. People familiar with the workings of criminal law will recognize the kind of barrister involved : an expensive, diva-like egotist in love with his own eloquence, for whom the actual wishes or needs of the client are far less important than the marvellous tale he can spin in front of a spell-bound audience. Also enjoyable : the dance sequence with people trying to do the jive or the jitterbug, or the scene where our unfortunate protagonist meets with a self-declared expert on the faking of lunacy. I would not be surprised to discover that there still exist people trying out a few of the same general ideas...
So anyway, "Tête blonde" isn't too bad. However I would recommend the superior "Le mort en fuite", for a better screenplay and more frequent laughs.
