Naked Normandy (2018)

A French mayor has to convince his villagers to pose naked for an American photographer.

Director:

Philippe Le Guay

Writers:

Victoria Bedos (collaboration), Olivier Dazat (dialogue)

Stars:

François Cluzet, François-Xavier Demaison, Julie-Anne Roth

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
François Cluzet	...	Georges Balbuzard
François-Xavier Demaison	...	Thierry Levasseur
Julie-Anne Roth	...	Valérie Levasseur
Pili Groyne	...	Chloé Levasseur
Toby Jones	...	Newman
Vincent Regan	...	Bradley
Colin Bates	...	Ross
Arthur Dupont	...	Vincent Jousselin
Daphné Dumons	...	Charlotte
Lucrèce Carmignac	...	Aurélie
Philippe Rebbot	...	Eugène
Patrick d'Assumçao	...	Maurice
Samuel Churin	...	Bezon
Grégory Gadebois	...	Roger
Lucie Muratet	...	Gisèle

Storyline

A French mayor has to convince his villagers to pose naked for an American photographer.

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Plot Keywords:

female full frontal nudity | male full frontal nudity | public nudity | female full rear nudity | male full rear nudity | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

10 January 2018 (France)

Also Known As:

Ein Dorf zieht blank

Filming Locations:

Le Mêle-sur-Sarthe, Orne, France

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,360,820

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films des Tournelles, SND Films, France 2 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

Excessively schmaltzy mishmash of clichés - is photography Normandy's salvation?!

François Cluzet is a highly reliable and even gifted actor, as demonstrated in LES INTOUCHABLES, MEDECIN DE CAMPAGNE, and LA MECANIQUE DE L'OMBRE, among others. But he cannot carry this film on his own, especially when he is so insufficiently aided by a cast of unknowns who were probably hired locally.

Suffice it to say that the most imaginative - and funny - scene in the whole film is the opening sequence, where a character we do not see again gets out of his camping tent, starts urinating and realizes that he is smack bang in the middle of a nudity camp.

There are many subplots, mostly meaningless fillers, but perhaps the most baffling is one about a fellow who has an agency in Paris but decides to move to the country, with a daughter who doubles up as narrator with a vandalistic graffiti streak who keeps spraying "à poil" (get naked) on the windows of a former local beauty competition winner; he starts suffering from respiratory problems prompted by allergies but he remains adamant that he wants to stay in the country; in the end, completely unexpectedly and after all manner of illness and other shortcomings as a result of his alleged desire to live in nature, he admits that he is dying to get back to Paris. So narrator and he fly by helicopter to Paris while the wife stays for the communal photograh in stark nudity... huh?!

The inevitable feud over a land claim also rears its head, the land claimer even threatens others with a gun, but the whole issue is so amiably settled that you know you're watching a fairy tale.

As if that were not dire enough, two "Americans" (they sound British, but this is a French film for French audiences) turn up and one of them has earned a reputation out of photographing naked crowds. Cluzet, as the mayor, first opposes it, then seems to think that it is an opportunity to show the plight of local cattle farmers... but some locals oppose it, including the former beauty contest winner's jealous husband, who brandishes a big kitchen knife but is ultimately as harmless as he is fat.

Cluzet gets his pièce de resistance in a scene in which he fakes suicide by hanging, but it is embarrassingly poorly done, followed by adult men throwing hay at each other. Huh?!

And so it goes on, right up to the utterly wayward and mendacious ending, which suggests that Normandy's fate hangs on a nude photo.

Two minor saving graces: pleasant landscape photography and good use of local colloquial language, giving the film a credible rural feel.

Sadly, direction, plot and script all oscillate between uninspired and amateurish. I could not wait for the end and left feeling annoyed that I had paid to watch such childish stuff.