Wanting to escape the watchful eye of the police, two criminals enter a local restaurant and eat a meal. The loot of their recent burglary is hidden in a suitcase. Sadly for all concerned, the man sitting close to them - a douce, responsible citizen - owns a similar suitcase. Much to his surprise, the innocent man finds himself accused of stealing a king's ransom in jewels...
One can be kind and say that "Coup dur" is pleasantly unpredictable and whimsical ; one can be less kind and say that "Coup dur" is far-fetched, uneven and illogical. I leave it up to you, dear reader, to decide which adjectives describe the movie best. Anyway, the story certainly takes a number of completely unexpected twists and turns.
Probably it's best to savour the various gags or one-liners without overthinking the whole too much. It's not the funniest French comedy I've ever seen, but it's got its moments. (Watch it and you'll know what to say when a complete stranger discovers you're sleeping in his/her bed.) It's also a welcome antidote to the many deadly serious crime movies about gangs and gangsters coming from France.
While not the deepest movie around, "Coup dur" owns at least some psychological perception. For instance, one of the characters is a Russian aristocrat who wants to commit suicide because she's ruined, ruined, ruined ! Oh, the poverty, the shame, the debt ! When someone remarks that she lives in a princely mansion filled with exquisite furniture and art (which, logically, implies a lot of money), she replies haughtily that she wants to follow tradition, by perishing with all her ancestral possessions intact. In other words, throwing yourself out of the window is preferable to selling four seventeenth-century mirrors or moving to a slightly less prestigious dwelling. Quite a lot of priests, lawyers and psychiatrists will have met similar clients...
One can be kind and say that "Coup dur" is pleasantly unpredictable and whimsical ; one can be less kind and say that "Coup dur" is far-fetched, uneven and illogical. I leave it up to you, dear reader, to decide which adjectives describe the movie best. Anyway, the story certainly takes a number of completely unexpected twists and turns.
Probably it's best to savour the various gags or one-liners without overthinking the whole too much. It's not the funniest French comedy I've ever seen, but it's got its moments. (Watch it and you'll know what to say when a complete stranger discovers you're sleeping in his/her bed.) It's also a welcome antidote to the many deadly serious crime movies about gangs and gangsters coming from France.
While not the deepest movie around, "Coup dur" owns at least some psychological perception. For instance, one of the characters is a Russian aristocrat who wants to commit suicide because she's ruined, ruined, ruined ! Oh, the poverty, the shame, the debt ! When someone remarks that she lives in a princely mansion filled with exquisite furniture and art (which, logically, implies a lot of money), she replies haughtily that she wants to follow tradition, by perishing with all her ancestral possessions intact. In other words, throwing yourself out of the window is preferable to selling four seventeenth-century mirrors or moving to a slightly less prestigious dwelling. Quite a lot of priests, lawyers and psychiatrists will have met similar clients...