Hommes, femmes, mode d'emploi

I remember that this Claude Lelouch effort was surrounded by much hype when it reached the streets in 1996. In general, when they are theatrically released, the director's efforts follow this media pattern and it probably reveals his narcissistic side. But "Hommes Femmes Mode D'Emploi" caused a stir due to the presence of Bernard Tapie who managed the Marseille football club. I must acknowledge that he gave a thoroughly honorable performance for his first steps in cinema and Fabrice Lucchini gives him strong support which was the least he could do for a seasoned actor like him. I could say the same thing for the rest of the cast. The input from each actor is surely the sign that Lelouch loves his actors and is ready to give them presence on the screen and to maintain it.

This quality put aside, "Hommes Femmes Mode D'Emploi" is in the same league as virtually all Lelouch's efforts which preceded it. The director remains faithful to his favorite topics, notably fate and fortunes of life that link different characters. A little iffy editing, characters who enjoy philosophizing about life and time that go by in a positive way (see the sequence between Lucchini and Tapie in the car when talk about the French philosopher and mathematician Pascal) bestow the film with a naive, simplistic aura. Lelouch can't make the distinction between realism and fabulous. More serious, his freewheeling look at life leads him to irresponsibility. Pierre Arditi acts a doctor who declares his theory to Allessandra Martines that the brain is responsible for our aches. So, if you say to a healthy man that he is gravely ill and to a seriously ill man that he is in good health, morales should be inverted. Reality Mr. Lelouch is drastically different. A doctor has to tell the truth to his patients, no matter harsh it is.

And there's still this drawback from him to include superfluous sequences and a subplot which barely bring something to the bulk of the main plot (the sequences with the two tramps and the subplot featuring Claude Lelouch's daughter and Ticky Holgado's son who try hard to see again). As I've written it before, the cast makes up a bit for the unlikeliness and the dangerously naive side of the venture and Lelouch's virtuosity at camera is sometimes gripping but is it enough? If you're a Lelouch buff, you'll certainly want to include it in your DVD collection. The others, you can look away without remorse.

This is a film focusing on the up and downs of the relationships between men and women. It opens with a beautiful circular aerial shot of a château. The main character is played by the disgraced former Marseilles soccer club owner, Bernard Tapie. He is Benoit Blanc, a wealthy businessman who has had many women and starts to have problems with his health. Also, the other main character, a cop, has the same health problem. The two guys meet at the doctor's and discuss their problems. One of the doctors who examines them is Blanc's beautiful former lover who he dumped, and she is now bitter and deceitful. The other characters include two young lovers who lie about their age and can't find each other again after their first meeting; Blanc's mother who marries again at the age of eighty; and two street musicians who Blanc gives help to, one of whom wails an irritating sound through most of the film. Apart from that foible, the film is watchable and has a touching scene where the two guys visit Lourdes to seek a miracle cure for their health problems. It is an interesting look at the relationships of men and women from different age groups in all walks of life.

I recorded this from UK TV about 3 years after it was released and I would like to confess that I really enjoyed this production. I only wish it were available on DVD with subs.

I'm not familiar with Lelouch's body of work but have taken note of some critical appraisals certain of which mark him as somewhat polished, perhaps suggesting affectedness and/or superficiality.

IMO, underneath the main and supporting story lines here (which almost self-identify as yarns) which play like anecdotes of dubious veracity such as a bibulous fabulist at a bar might recount, there can be discovered a revelatory satire on the human condition (needless to say, the best commendation one could make for a work of art). This is commonly translated as a journey, a search for something nameless (because you don't know what it is yet), but you do know is of inestimable value - like some phantom treasure (cf. the tramp with the world-quieting singing voice), and which might be discovered anywhere.

Is it enlightenment? Love? I hesitate to name it. One thing that this film communicates very enjoyably and with resounding verve characterised in a very French, gaily philosophical way, is the common cinematic narrative that we all are linked by those seemingly random, chaotic, journeys or rather, it is our journeys which are interlinked which confers on us all the status of fellow-travellers, pilgrims dancing and singing our several ways, all of which ultimately -and without exception- lead in one direction: toward the place on the other side of the horizon.

The crisscross factor and its consequences all captured in this fascinating observation on relationships. From the blossom of young love in search of unity to old love fading with sorrow and redemption. A grand scale tale about the simple things in life that matters to us all; To live and to love in happiness.