May Fools (1990)

Like Vanya, in Malle's last film, Milou never left the family estate. His mother dies during the May 1968 student uprising in Paris. The brother who is the London correspondent for Le Monde... See full summary »

Director:

Louis Malle

Writers:

Louis Malle (scenario), Jean-Claude Carrière (scenario)

Stars:

Miou-Miou, Michel Piccoli, Michel Duchaussoy

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Miou-Miou	...	Camille
Michel Piccoli	...	Milou
Michel Duchaussoy	...	Georges
Bruno Carette	...	Grimaldi
Paulette Dubost	...	Mrs. Vieuzac
Harriet Walter	...	Lily
Martine Gautier	...	Adele
Rozenne Le Tallec	...	Marie-Laure
Jeanne Herry	...	Françoise (as Jeanne Herry-Leclerc)
Renaud Danner	...	Pierre-Alain
François Berléand	...	Daniel
Dominique Blanc	...	Claire
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Serge Angeloff	...	Adele's fiancé
Anne-Marie Bonange	...	Neighbor
Marcel Bories	...	Leonce

Storyline

Like Vanya, in Malle's last film, Milou never left the family estate. His mother dies during the May 1968 student uprising in Paris. The brother who is the London correspondent for Le Monde keeps turning up the volume of the radio for the latest news. A deceased sister's interest in the estate is represented by a niece who is an antique dealer, who is most interested in grandmother's emerald ring that Milou's daughter Camille has already slipped on her finger. A non-relative, a truck driver who can't deliver his load of tomatoes in Paris, brings a nephew who was part of the uprising. Everyone is on strike and the matriarch can't be buried.

---

Plot Keywords:

dancing around corpse | year 1968 | comedy of manners | sophisticated comedy | political satire | 

---

Genres:

Comedy | Romance

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French English

Release Date:

July 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

May Fools

Filming Locations:

Château du Calaoue, Gers, France

Box Office

Gross USA:

$1,576,702

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF), TF1 Films Production, Ellepi Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jeanne Herry, who plays Françoise (the little girl) is the real-life daughter of Miou-Miou. In 2014 she directed her first feature film, 'Elle l'adore', starring Sandrine Kiberlain and Laurent Lafitte.

---

Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Die Hard 2/Ghost Dad/Days of Thunder/May Fools (1990)

---

Soundtracks

La Fille du Bedouin
Ed. Salabert
Written by Georges Milton (uncredited)

User Reviews

Strangest nickname ever

This is a movie about the romantic awakening of an open-minded, freckle-faced ingénue named ... hold on, Milou turns out to be a gentle and wizened giant of a man, played by Michel Piccoli, who has apparently learned to live with an inappropriately cute nickname. He is living on his mother's country estate, and generally enjoying the decelerated life of landed gentry. Then his mother dies and his siblings descend on the mansion, threatening his casual existence (or maybe just questioning Milou's privilege of doing FA for a living). At the same time, the riots of 1968 are unfolding in far-away Paris.

The small group represent the different attitudes of French society at the time, we have the idealistic student who is overly anxious to see the arrival of a new world order, alongside the bourgeois reactionary who is somewhat less enthusiastic about horde of bearded baba cools putting up barricades, a housemaid who just wants to get her share of the inheritance, as well as a woman who feels impelled to take her top off for some reason. At one point, the group flee into the woods, and return the next morning. Somehow, the biggest bourgeois of all, Milou, is untouched by the quarrels around him and ends up continuing to live his placid mansion life, seemingly because he is so quaint and affable.

This movie had a few good ideas and moments, but it kind of runs out of ideas and plot after the family is assembled and their individual positions are established. In the end it's more or less a showcase for Michel Piccoli.