In this short (1 hour) movie, Augustin (played by the uncommon Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc) is a strange fellow, a narrow-minded clerk in an insurance company, whose attempts at a better life (by becoming an actor, for instance) are bound to fail due to his warped understanding of the world : like the best comic characters, he just goes on and on with an autistic determination, until something breaks. The movie is shot in a documentary fashion, and the characters (sometimes playing themselves) react with the same puzzlement as they would do in real life, and the conflict between the realism of the situations and Augustin himself is what makes the movie work. Augustin is really a new comic type, reminding of the slapstick days. Because he's a real pest sometimes, he's hard to love as a character, but you're unlikely to forget him. Sibertin-Blanc, brother of director Anne Fontaine (known for more serious pieces like Nettoyage à Sec), revived Augustin in commercials, and in a sequel, "Augustin roi du Kung-Fu", where Augustin tries to become the next Jackie Chan (!)
2 Reviews
A genius low budget comedy
dumsumdumfai8 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Saw this in 1995 Toronto Film Festival. This movie change my view on low budget movie. I laughed my head off during the movie. So 13 years later, I have to write something about this.
The film is about a Buster Keaton -like (in terms of mental, not physical gymnastics) sort of character and his every day life. The movie is a triumph of improve, ad-lib, spontaneous acting (from the post Q&A information) and loose script.
This film worked for me because going in I didn't expect a French film to be this funny, this low brow, this slapstick AND in a low budget way. It's the against expectation that probably made it 10x funnier than it is ????
If the Paris Je t'aim were shot back then, some short version of this may not be so bad. Although there is one scene that maybe of questionable taste - bathroom kind of humor. But it still stayed "ture" to the character.
The film is about a Buster Keaton -like (in terms of mental, not physical gymnastics) sort of character and his every day life. The movie is a triumph of improve, ad-lib, spontaneous acting (from the post Q&A information) and loose script.
This film worked for me because going in I didn't expect a French film to be this funny, this low brow, this slapstick AND in a low budget way. It's the against expectation that probably made it 10x funnier than it is ????
If the Paris Je t'aim were shot back then, some short version of this may not be so bad. Although there is one scene that maybe of questionable taste - bathroom kind of humor. But it still stayed "ture" to the character.
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