Le Soupirant

Another film from the - in our opinion - brilliant director Pierre Etaix. 
This time we also get to hear some Swedish spoken in the film.

Etaix is the main character (as in most of his films), a young bachelor by the name of Pierre, living with his elderly parents though he since long is a grown up man, at least seen in relation to his age.
He interests himself in astrology and this has become an obsession to such a degree that he is unable to take on an adult attitude to life, living on his own, moving out from his parents house, finding his way in the world.
The only remedy is for him to get married, not least seen from the perspective of his mother. The father in the family doesn't really care, obviously contented with the situation, as long as he's able to smoke his cigars, drink his liquor and listening to the music played by the Swedish maid Ilka (Karin Vesely). All this done in the sly, as his dominant wife doesn't approve of his habits.

In order to please his parents (read: his mother) Pierre initiates his "wife hunting" project.
At first he actually asks the maid if she wants to marry him but as she isn't fluent in French, she doesn't understand his question.
He goes out "into the world" and at first he study other men and how they approach women but he is not lucky at all, until he - at a restaurant - meets a woman whose husband suddenly leaves her alone. This might be Pierre's chance but very soon he understands why the man has left this woman.
The story goes back and forth and at the same time the maid in the house - actually fancying Pierre - becomes more and more fluent in French. Maybe they will be able to reach out to each other?

This is a very amusing film, with a quiet form of humour, rendering the film a higher value as it deals with the problems of communicating, both verbally, emotionally and intellectually and how hard it can be to see what is very obvious in life. In this case discovering that the love of your life stands next to you, without you being aware of it.
In the film, the young Swedish maid, tells a story in Swedish, only understood by me and Aurore, a story about a knight and a virgin meeting but not understanding one another, leading to that they never was given the chance to express their love for one another.
In the film there are a lot of 'gags', reminding of the fact that Etaix has worked with Tati but yet has his own trade mark. We recommend this film!
In other roles: France Arnel, Laurence Lignères, Claude Massot and Denise Péronne.

(Poster copied from: http://www.notrecinema.com/images/cache/le-soupirant-affiche_9349_2944.jpg)

(Photo dancing Pierre Etaix copied from: http://www.cinemas-utopia.org/admin/films_img/img30/2975.jpeg)

(Photo Pierre Etaix among two statues copied from: http://www.critikat.com/local/cache-vignettes/L710xH424/film_le_soupirant_etaix-be408.jpg)