In my book, Claude Lelouch is much better at making comedies than at making interminable sagas,the likes of "les uns et les autres " and "toute une vie" ;"la bonne année ", "le voyou" "le chat et la souris" and this "Robert et Robert " are graceful works .
The mariage bureau is a subject few directors have broached : the unfairly overlooked "agence matrimoniale" by Le Chanois (1952 )dealt with it ; a quarter of century later, they have changed ,and the computer was already used (the head of the bureau , played by the excellent Jean-Claude Brialy ,is proud of it , and for a good reason ,in 1978 ,it was almost a sci-fi item)
Two clients of the bureau , both called Robert , meet and become friends: i have a marked preference for Villeret :as soon as he appears ,as a self-conscious student gendarme ,he wins over the audience ;not liking him is as perverse as not liking the sun; every time he appears ,he steals the show, even from his co-star Charles Denner ,who is competent but sometimes displays a tendency to overact ; the taxi ,when he sees the warnings and where you can have tea or coffee , is good fun .
Lelouch's directing is fluid, astutely blending reality and dream (the wedding which segues into a music hall performance is an excellent trick); besides he adds some sadness to the bill of fare : the trip to Waterloo (what a choice!) ,organized by the marriage bureau, is no picnic ;one feels the loneliness of these men and women in search of a soul mate in spite of Brialy disguised as Napoleon's efforts to enliven things a bit.
On the other hand , there's filler :the "private club" ,the ball scene which is too long ,the mothers who are both crude caricatures as well as some of the clients of the bureau. And some navel-gazing by the director, who uses again the "un homme et une femme" title song.
But all is forgotten after you watched Villeret ,a gifted actor who disappeared too soon.
The mariage bureau is a subject few directors have broached : the unfairly overlooked "agence matrimoniale" by Le Chanois (1952 )dealt with it ; a quarter of century later, they have changed ,and the computer was already used (the head of the bureau , played by the excellent Jean-Claude Brialy ,is proud of it , and for a good reason ,in 1978 ,it was almost a sci-fi item)
Two clients of the bureau , both called Robert , meet and become friends: i have a marked preference for Villeret :as soon as he appears ,as a self-conscious student gendarme ,he wins over the audience ;not liking him is as perverse as not liking the sun; every time he appears ,he steals the show, even from his co-star Charles Denner ,who is competent but sometimes displays a tendency to overact ; the taxi ,when he sees the warnings and where you can have tea or coffee , is good fun .
Lelouch's directing is fluid, astutely blending reality and dream (the wedding which segues into a music hall performance is an excellent trick); besides he adds some sadness to the bill of fare : the trip to Waterloo (what a choice!) ,organized by the marriage bureau, is no picnic ;one feels the loneliness of these men and women in search of a soul mate in spite of Brialy disguised as Napoleon's efforts to enliven things a bit.
On the other hand , there's filler :the "private club" ,the ball scene which is too long ,the mothers who are both crude caricatures as well as some of the clients of the bureau. And some navel-gazing by the director, who uses again the "un homme et une femme" title song.
But all is forgotten after you watched Villeret ,a gifted actor who disappeared too soon.
