Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Michel Serrault | ... | Emmanuel Comte | |
Jacques Dutronc | ... | Colin | |
Jacques Villeret | ... | Momo | |
Robert Dhéry | ... | Peyssou | |
Hanns Zischler | ... | Le vétérinaire (as Hans Zischler) | |
Jean-Louis Trintignant | ... | Fulbert | |
Pénélope Palmer | ... | Evelyne | |
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Emilie Lihou | ... | La Menou (as Émilie Lihou) |
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Jacqueline Parent | ... | Cathy |
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Guy Saint-Jean | ... | Un 'gendarme' |
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Marianik Revillon | ... | Emma |
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Béatrice Houplain | ||
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Reine Bartève | ... | Judith (as Reine Barteve) |
Eduard Linkers | ... | Fabrelatre | |
Marianne Wischmann | ... | Madame Tingal |
In southern France, in a quite little town, the mayor, who also owns a castle with some cattle, is in the wine cellar with some other people: the pharmacist, the veterinary, and some of his employees. As they are drinking wine, they hear a terrible noise and the heat's getting higher and higher. They don't realize what's happening: when they come out of the cellar, they realize that everything has burned, and all the buildings are destroyed... Written by Anonymous
I'm a lifelong and ardent fan of Robert Merle, the writer who thought up Malevil, genre close to "Les Hommes Protégés" when he wasn't writing his historical classic saga "Fortune de France". The story I used to read many times over is something I was always curious about how they'd put it on celluloid... khmmm... coulda been far better... I think the main problem is that it lacks any real background to the main characters, their 'previos life' their place in the micro-society of the typical rural France countryside.
A spicy choice of brilliant actors (Trintignant as Fulbert, Serrault the Squire and Villeret as Momo) should've been given MUCH more credit than this. I just don't know why this movie went awry - looooong, boring and leaving holes unanswered in the story - maybe it was only intended to be a cheapo TV-film, poorly budgeted variant. If you see the movie first you'll never want to read the book, if you read the book first you'd be disappointed by the movie.