L'africain (1983)

Director:

Philippe de Broca

Writers:

Gérard Brach (original scenario) and
Philippe de Broca (original scenario) ...

Release Date:

2 March 1983 (France)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Poacher | Elephant | Pygmy | Airplane | Africa

Cast

Catherine Deneuve	...	Charlotte
Philippe Noiret	...	Victor
Jean-François Balmer	...	Paul Planchet
Jacques François	...	Le docteur Patterson
Jean Benguigui	...	Aristote Poulakis
Joseph Momo	...	Bako
Vivian Reed	...	Joséphine
Pierre Michaël	...	Le P.D.G
Gordon Heath	...	Le ministre
Raymond Aquilon	...	Le commandant
Gisèle Charpentier	...	La matronne
Maxime Dufeu	...	Un cadre

Also Known As:

The African

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Renn Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Le bourreau des coeurs (1983)

Soundtrack:

Summertime

French screwball in Africa

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

***Possible spoilers***

Most of the time, "L'Africain" is a delightful film. The storyline is thin but the actors carry it with panache and the scenery is spectacular. Charlotte (Catherine Deneuve) flies to East-Africa in order to build a touristic center near the Lake Williams where the pygmys live. Here she meets her husband Victor (Philippe Noiret), a devoted conservationist who left her three years ago to live in the jungle. Can you imagine his enthusiasm when she arrives at the conclusion that the ideal place to built this holiday resort is his kitchen garden? A sacrilege in his eyes! But even his good buddy, the british stewart who is always prepared to do him a good turn quickly becomes a convert after Charlotte makes eyes at him and allows her to explore the country. From then on, Charlotte and Victor have to deal with herds of elephants, villainous ivory smugglers and voracious crocodiles. They sail on the African Queen II and meet the pygmys at last.

What I liked especially about this film apart from the performances was the fact that it bears no similarity with the usual Hollywood products like "Out of Africa". This film is completely irreverent and offers an amusingly malicious look at the remains of the colonial age long past gone, like the threadbare elegance of the "Grand Hotel de Paris" where Victor, dressed in his smoking, consumes his oysters. However, I have to add a warning: This film may hurt sensibilities. Don't expect of a french film of 1983 to apply the same standards of political correctness as a U.S. release of 2003. The natives in this film live in rusty iron-shacks, and when Deneuve complains at one point that they are poor, Noiret replies: "Shall we put them in social homes and feed them hamburgers?" Political incorrectness or gallows humor? The language is salty at times: When Noiret falls in a torrential river after villains cut the ropes of a rope-bridge, Deneuve shouts:"I was so afraid because of you. Why didn't you make me a child?" However, if you can do without political correctness for the duration of this film, you will rather enjoy this comedy, if only for the sake of its two very funny stars.