This is a movie made of sketches ,connected by a very tenuous line: how (good ) luck can influence fate ; actually ,the segments have almost nothing in common; ,boxer Georges Carpentier and singer/actor Maurice Chevalier
are interviewed and tell how chance has helped them through their career .Claude Chabrol provides the prologue and the small scenes between the sketches .
1°) "the luck of the warrior" :almost an oxymoron! a warrior is not lucky when he has to go to war ;Claude Berri's antimilitarism is obvious in this reductio ad absurdum of the war concept .It will emerge again at the end of the sixties,with "Le Pistonné" .
It's the beginning of WW2;in France ,it is known as the "Drôle De Guerre" (= the Phoney War" )for , for a period of months ,nothing happened ;we follow a group of privates ,who spend the night on a farm yard ;although this is supposed to be a comedy ,there's a dark side to it: the first pictures show a dreary land,waiting for something to happen, then discouraged soldiers, already tired whereas their war has not even begun .
One of them falls asleep on duty and his gun is stolen ; he asks his pal to knock him out so that he can claim the Germans have already attacked; but the warrant officer is not so dumb ,and the private stands in big danger of being courtmartialed ;he will be saved ,so to speak,by the gong ,in the most unexpected way.
Well acted by Francis Blanche ,Roger Dumas and Hubert Deschamps.
2°) "an explosive luck" : a delightful spoof on gangsters movies by Bertrand Tavernier ;long scenes which reminds me of his mentor Melville's works, with a sense of humor to boot.
Lorrière ,a contract killer ,has been had ;his employer,Camilly ,paid him with forged banknotes; but ,out of the blue, the hitman suggests his boss play poker with him and his two associates;there's always someone cleverer than you ;the poker game begins : both partners do not know about Camilly's swindle : the latter must prevent Lorrière from losing if he does not want him to pay with his
"earnings ".
It's a joy to see Michel Auclair's elegant nonchalance and Bernard Blier's tricky bonhomie ;both work wonders ...
3°) "Lucky luck " : the weakest link ; the story is laborious and drags on,in spite of Michel Piccoli ,out of place in a comedy ,and of Sophie Desmarets,a comic actress completely wasted here.
A journalist takes part in the competition organized by his paper under his wife's name ,for the magazine staff is not allowed to play .He (She) wins ;the ending is predictable and the part of the au pair girl is not fully exploited .
4°)"The luck of the fiances"
Marc wants to marry Hélène ,the butcher's daughter ,but his father ,a chemist does not want to hear of it ; undaunted,Marc tells his dad he's got his sweetheart pregnant ! The poor man is dumbfounded : it's not a matter of social classes , it's just that Hélène is none other than his own daughter; the plot recalls old folk song "Johnny be fair" remade as reggae " shame and scandal in the family "; in the end,everything will work out fine .
A little derivative ,but the good cast (Jacques Perrin,Stefania Sandrelli, Rellys, Paulette Dubost) redeems it ;one good moment: the vicar thinking that the father is still mourning his old aunt after the funeral.
Two good sketches and a not-so-bad one,you make it on the percentages.
