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Les Vacanciers
1974 Comedy
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Credits
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Director: Michel Gérard
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Script: Vincent Gauthier, Michel Gérard
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Photo: Jean Monsigny
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Music: Daniel Fauré, Georgette Plana (song: "12 mois de vacances")
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Cast: Alice Sapritch (Tante Aimée),
Michel Galabru (Aloyse Frankensteinmuhl),
Paul Préboist (Benjamin Chatton),
Jacqueline Jehanneuf (Mme Frankensteinmuhl),
Louison Roblin (Rosy Chatton),
Vincent Gauthier (Philippe Chatton),
Anne Aor (Charlotte Chatton),
Johnny Monteilhet (Daniel)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 90 min
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Summary
The Chatton family – Benjamin, Rosy, and their two grown-up children, Philippe and Charlotte
– plan to spend a month’s holiday in a village in Alsace. When they arrive at the
house in which they have rented rooms, they receive a far from friendly welcome from its
owner, Aloyse Frankensteinmuhl. The latter is unaware that his eccentric wife has
let the rooms to supplement her income. As the Chattons try to make the best of
their holiday, Aloyse becomes increasingly hostile towards them. His attitude changes
when his Aunt Aimée – the true owner of his house – reveals she has taken a fancy
to the Chatton’s son…
Review
This rambling madcap comedy wouldn’t be worth so much as a casual glance were it not for
the sheer enthusiasm of its cast and its frothy, hippy-inspired sense of fun. You
get the impression that the entire cast and crew were happily dosing themselves up to
the eyeballs with hallucinogenic drugs between takes, such is the unbelievably laid back
narrative style and seemingly limitless bounds of eccentricity in the acting performances.
Anyone who thought the 1970s was dull, characterless and miserable should take a look
at this film and realise just how kitsch, Devil-may-care and mind-bogglingly weird most
of the decade was, in spite of political and economic meltdown in much of Europe, interminable
wars in the Far East and the ever present threat of nuclear annihilation.
As if sourced from an exhaustive compendium of comedy, the jokes running rampant
in this film cover the entire spectrum from the utterly puerile, to the brilliantly observant,
with more than a smattering of the totally obscene. The dialogue is generally awful
(whoever wrote the script should be shot) but the visual jokes work rather well.
Just in case the film failed to sell on the strength of its comedy, there’s a healthy
dollop of male and female nudity calculated to earn it a soft-core porn classification.
(Well, it is a French comedy.) In the most
notorious scene, an attractive man and woman – supposedly brother and sister – hose each
other down and generally frolic about, al fresco, in their birthday suits, as if it were
the kind of thing French people got up to every day (maybe they did - when Valery Giscard
d'Estang was in power).
Les
Vacanciers is an utterly mad, unrestrainedly chaotic film, which no one with a
University degree would admit to having watched (let alone enjoyed). Yet, for all
its innumerable faults and crazy indulgences, it’s one of those things which, whilst it’s
obviously not good for you, has a bizarre, inexplicable appeal, and even manages to make
you laugh. You probably wouldn't want to watch it more than once, though...
© James Travers 2007
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Buy this film:
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Douze mois par an de vacances
Et tout le reste pour se
reposer
Bien logé, bien nourri, bien bronzé
Quand on travaille on
a mérité
Douze mois par an de vacances
Et tout le reste pour récupérer
Dormir à l'ombre, rêver, oublier
Qu'il n'y a que douze mois dans
l'année
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