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L'Événement le plus important depuis que l'homme a marché sur la lune
1973 Comedy Fantasy
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Credits
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Director: Jacques Demy
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Script: Jacques Demy
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Photo: Andréas Winding
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Music: Michel Legrand
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Cast: Catherine Deneuve (Irène de Fontenoy),
Marcello Mastroianni (Marco
Mazetti),
Micheline Presle (Dr. Delavigne),
Marisa Pavan (Maria Mazetti),
Claude Melki (Lucien Soumain),
Mireille Mathieu (En personne),
André Falcon (Scipion Lemeu),
Maurice Biraud (Lamarie),
Alice Sapritch (Ramona Martinez),
Raymond Gérôme (Gérard Chaumont de Latour),
Madeleine Barbulée (Mlle Janvier),
Micheline Dax (Mme Corfa),
Benjamin Legrand (Lucas),
Jacques Legras (Leboeuf),
Tonie Marshall (La présentatrice
de Bobino),
Marie-France Mignal (Janine),
Michèle Moretti (Ginou),
Dominique Varda (Sarah),
Philippe Bouvard (En personne),
Myriam Boyer (Ninon Barbeau)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 92 min
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Aka: A Slightly Pregnant Man
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Summary
Marco Mazetti, a driving school instructor, has a harmonious life with his girlfriend
Irène, the owner of a hairdresser’s salon, and their young son. Then, one
day, Marco begins to experience inexplicable bouts of nausea. On the advice of Irène’s
doctor, he is sent to see the eminent gynaecologist Professor Chaumont who discovers that
he is fourth months pregnant. Marco is incredulous but Chaumont has the explanation.
His theory is that modern drugs and food processing is inducing an evolutionary change
in the human species. The time has come for men to start giving birth!
Review
What began as a private joke between Jacques Demy and his wife Agnès Varda about
the prospect of men giving birth ended as this sweet-natured role-reversal comedy starring
real-life lovers Catherine Deneuve and Marcello
Mastroianni. Whilst Demy doesn’t get anywhere near to exploiting the full comic
potential of the subject, the film is considerably better than the majority of subsequent
films in which the role of men and women is reversed. The main reason for this is
Mastroianni’s engaging performance, which brings a sense of realism to what is after all
an absurd fantasy. It’s nice that Demy took the time to develop a semi-plausible
theory as to why men should start having babies; doubtless if he made the film today,
the answer would have something to do with genetically modified organisms.
The film’s controversial subject matter, and possibly its ridiculously long title,
may have contributed to its failure at the box office. Unable to attract funding
for a subsequent film in France, Jacques Demy ended up having to accept a commission from
a Japanese production company for his next film,
Lady Oscar (1978).
© James Travers 2006
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