L'apprenti salaud

One of Michel Deville's less pretentious and more accessible film,this movie was not a big success.His female star ,Christine Dejoux ,who was one of the most promising newcomers,never made the big time as her contemporary colleague Isabelle Adjani did.

She teams up with Robert Lamoureux,who could be her father.They are Edouard et Caroline ,two names which could be the title of a Jacques Becker oldie.This film does not belong to the seventies .It recalls those days when the Nouvelle Vague (for better and for worse) had not happened.

Caroline and Edouard are crooks: they make people believe they have a great uncle who became a millionaire in Texas! "L'Oncle D'Amerique" has become one of the best known FRench clichés,and however everybody falls into the trap.Of course "you've got to pay miscellaneous expenses to latch on the dough".This is a very funny ,very entertaining comedy ,with a bitter unexpected end.

"L'Apprenti Salaud" is a caper comedy where the capers are not remotely believable, which would be fine, except they're not remotely funny, either. The movie is certainly fast-paced and playful - but in a way that makes it headache-inducing and incomprehensible; it's like a bad dream. Christine Dejoux does have some charm, which is wasted here as she is fantasized into a love affair with an actor who looks too old to be even her father. I did not like this film at all. 0.5 out of 4 stars.