Pierre Etaix appeared to emerge fully-formed, make a mild impact and then disappear without trace. Somehow or other he has now been 'rediscovered' and his small canon of films is being made available on DVD. What seems clear is that he had a definite slant on life and filmmaking and The Great Love is, I'm guessing, as good an example as any. The actual plot could not be more basic; a ladies man finally marries and settles down to a life of domesticity complete with the job in his father-in-law's business, a tannery. The years pass, he wonders did he make a mistake, what if he had married one of his other girl friends, what if he had remained a bachelor ... What lifts it out of the run-of-the-mill are the quirky,almost surreal touches with which Etaix studs the film. Certainly worth a look.
Review of Le Grand Amour
