LE BOSSU (ON GUARD!) |
| CREDITS: Director: Phillippe de Brocca. Cast: Daniel Auteuil, Fabrice Luchini, Vincent
Perez, Marie Gillain, Yann Collette, Claire Nebout & Phillipe Noiret.
France/Italy/Germany 1997. INTRODUCTION: Paul Feval's 1875 swashbuckling serial "The Hunchback of Paris" receives its sixth celluloid outing with the dream team of Auteuil & Perez in the leads. SYNOPSIS: Orphaned Parisian Legardiere (Auteuil) encounters nobleman Duc de Nevers (Perez) and the two form a firm friendship, but Nevers cousin Gonzage (Luchini) has plans afoot to buy Mississippi that will threaten the friends. REVIEW: de Brocca has previously demonstrated his love of the swashbuckling action genre with the '61 classic Cartouche, but for someone like me who was something of an accomplished fencer in my youth, watching the ridiculous leaping about and appalling footwork that defines the drama is always annoying and I feel compelled to point out that the Nevers attack would never work, quite apart from anything else it's well off target. Auteuil and Perez are two of the most popular actors in French cinema, their teaming provides a long awaited delight, if somewhat short lived, and with a fine supporting cast that includes the likes of Gillain last seen in "Mon Pere, Ce Heros" and veteran character actor Noiret, we have an ensemble second to none. Le Bossu has sumptuous production values that hit you right between the eyes like 'le botte de Nevers' but for a kid brought up on Michael York Musketeer movies the French's attempts to recapture the times somehow fail to ring true. Feval's source material is, like most 19th century literature, horrendously flawed, wallowing in melodrama and with an over-reliance on coincidence to drive the story along, and as for the somewhat libertine moral of the story, well I'm behind it all the way. Remember if you don't come to Legardiere, Legardiere will come to you! Mutt's Rating: *** |