Summary
Guillaume Daubray-Lacaze is the mayor of a small provincial town and the owner of a factory
which manufactures anti-pollution devices. When he receives an order from Japan
for 3000 of his CX22 smoke-swallowing machines, he is forced to extend his factory into
his house. This does not please his ecologist wife, Bernadette, who, driven to distraction
by the noise, leaves Guillaume and runs against him the coming mayoral election...
Review
La Zizanie, one of the best of the later Louis de Funès film comedies, sees
the improbable pairing of the great comic actor with Annie Girardot. Better known
as a serious actress in thrillers and dramas, Girardot has also appeared in a number of
comedies, but La Zizanie is arguably her most memorable comic outing. The
de Funès-Girardot pairing works wonderfully because their strong personalities
are equally matched. When, in the film, Girardot’s character says she has been married
to de Funès character for over 20 years, it rings true.
Most of the entertainment value of this film derives from the situation of the unlikely
union of a strong-willed feminist-cum-ecologist and an unscrupulous petty-minded factory
manager (the kind of role which de Funès plays best). By accident or design,
the husband-and-wife tussle makes an excellent parody of the real-life conflict between
environmentalists and industrialists which began in the mid 1970s and which has become
ever-more vociferous since. In broaching green issues so forcefully (albeit with
tongue set firmly in cheek), La Zizanie was years ahead of its time.
The film benefits from another successful alliance – that of de Funès with director
Claude Zidi. Both have a flair for comedy which La Zizanie, their second
film together (after L'Aile ou la cuisse), bears out very well. Amongst the
comic situations you are unlikely to forget are: Louis de Funès unwittingly destroying
a billiard table whilst playing a game of billiards, Louis de Funès and Annie Girardot
going to bed in a bedroom which has been transformed into a factory workshop (complete
with lathes, conveyor belts and arc-welding equipment), and Annie Girardot discovering
that her treasured pet flesh-eating fish has been frozen to death (and then boiled).
The film goes a little over-the-top in a few places, but it is all well-intentioned fun
and makes good therapy for anyone in need of a dose of Funèsque light-relief.
© James Travers 2002
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