Four sketches revolving around the themes of luck and love.Four sketches revolving around the themes of luck and love.Four sketches revolving around the themes of luck and love.
Photos
- Directors
- Claude Berri(segment Chance du guerrier, La)
- Charles L. Bitsch(segment Lucky la chance)
- Claude Chabrol(segment La peau de banane, Le dragueur type, Les interviews-vérité, La pêche à la ligne)
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- SoundtracksMarche du guerrier
written by Francis Lai
Featured review
The luck of the draw ...
This is a movie made of sketches ,connected by a very tenuous line: how (good ) luck can influence fate ; actually ,the segments have almost nothing in common; ,boxer Georges Carpentier and singer/actor Maurice Chevalier
are interviewed and tell how chance has helped them through their career .Claude Chabrol provides the prologue and the small scenes between the sketches .
1°) "the luck of the warrior" :almost an oxymoron! a warrior is not lucky when he has to go to war ;Claude Berri's antimilitarism is obvious in this reductio ad absurdum of the war concept .It will emerge again at the end of the sixties,with "Le Pistonné" . It's the beginning of WW2;in France ,it is known as the "Drôle De Guerre" (= the Phoney War" )for , for a period of months ,nothing happened ;we follow a group of privates ,who spend the night on a farm yard ;although this is supposed to be a comedy ,there's a dark side to it: the first pictures show a dreary land,waiting for something to happen, then discouraged soldiers, already tired whereas their war has not even begun . One of them falls asleep on duty and his gun is stolen ; he asks his pal to knock him out so that he can claim the Germans have already attacked; but the warrant officer is not so dumb ,and the private stands in big danger of being courtmartialed ;he will be saved ,so to speak,by the gong ,in the most unexpected way. Well acted by Francis Blanche ,Roger Dumas and Hubert Deschamps.
2°) "an explosive luck" : a delightful spoof on gangsters movies by Bertrand Tavernier ;long scenes which reminds me of his mentor Melville's works, with a sense of humor to boot. Lorrière ,a contract killer ,has been had ;his employer,Camilly ,paid him with forged banknotes; but ,out of the blue, the hitman suggests his boss play poker with him and his two associates;there's always someone cleverer than you ;the poker game begins : both partners do not know about Camilly's swindle : the latter must prevent Lorrière from losing if he does not want him to pay with his "earnings ". It's a joy to see Michel Auclair's elegant nonchalance and Bernard Blier's tricky bonhomie ;both work wonders ...
3°) "Lucky luck " : the weakest link ; the story is laborious and drags on,in spite of Michel Piccoli ,out of place in a comedy ,and of Sophie Desmarets,a comic actress completely wasted here. A journalist takes part in the competition organized by his paper under his wife's name ,for the magazine staff is not allowed to play .He (She) wins ;the ending is predictable and the part of the au pair girl is not fully exploited .
4°)"The luck of the fiances" Marc wants to marry Hélène ,the butcher's daughter ,but his father ,a chemist does not want to hear of it ; undaunted,Marc tells his dad he's got his sweetheart pregnant ! The poor man is dumbfounded : it's not a matter of social classes , it's just that Hélène is none other than his own daughter; the plot recalls old folk song "Johnny be fair" remade as reggae " shame and scandal in the family "; in the end,everything will work out fine . A little derivative ,but the good cast (Jacques Perrin,Stefania Sandrelli, Rellys, Paulette Dubost) redeems it ;one good moment: the vicar thinking that the father is still mourning his old aunt after the funeral.
Two good sketches and a not-so-bad one,you make it on the percentages.
1°) "the luck of the warrior" :almost an oxymoron! a warrior is not lucky when he has to go to war ;Claude Berri's antimilitarism is obvious in this reductio ad absurdum of the war concept .It will emerge again at the end of the sixties,with "Le Pistonné" . It's the beginning of WW2;in France ,it is known as the "Drôle De Guerre" (= the Phoney War" )for , for a period of months ,nothing happened ;we follow a group of privates ,who spend the night on a farm yard ;although this is supposed to be a comedy ,there's a dark side to it: the first pictures show a dreary land,waiting for something to happen, then discouraged soldiers, already tired whereas their war has not even begun . One of them falls asleep on duty and his gun is stolen ; he asks his pal to knock him out so that he can claim the Germans have already attacked; but the warrant officer is not so dumb ,and the private stands in big danger of being courtmartialed ;he will be saved ,so to speak,by the gong ,in the most unexpected way. Well acted by Francis Blanche ,Roger Dumas and Hubert Deschamps.
2°) "an explosive luck" : a delightful spoof on gangsters movies by Bertrand Tavernier ;long scenes which reminds me of his mentor Melville's works, with a sense of humor to boot. Lorrière ,a contract killer ,has been had ;his employer,Camilly ,paid him with forged banknotes; but ,out of the blue, the hitman suggests his boss play poker with him and his two associates;there's always someone cleverer than you ;the poker game begins : both partners do not know about Camilly's swindle : the latter must prevent Lorrière from losing if he does not want him to pay with his "earnings ". It's a joy to see Michel Auclair's elegant nonchalance and Bernard Blier's tricky bonhomie ;both work wonders ...
3°) "Lucky luck " : the weakest link ; the story is laborious and drags on,in spite of Michel Piccoli ,out of place in a comedy ,and of Sophie Desmarets,a comic actress completely wasted here. A journalist takes part in the competition organized by his paper under his wife's name ,for the magazine staff is not allowed to play .He (She) wins ;the ending is predictable and the part of the au pair girl is not fully exploited .
4°)"The luck of the fiances" Marc wants to marry Hélène ,the butcher's daughter ,but his father ,a chemist does not want to hear of it ; undaunted,Marc tells his dad he's got his sweetheart pregnant ! The poor man is dumbfounded : it's not a matter of social classes , it's just that Hélène is none other than his own daughter; the plot recalls old folk song "Johnny be fair" remade as reggae " shame and scandal in the family "; in the end,everything will work out fine . A little derivative ,but the good cast (Jacques Perrin,Stefania Sandrelli, Rellys, Paulette Dubost) redeems it ;one good moment: the vicar thinking that the father is still mourning his old aunt after the funeral.
Two good sketches and a not-so-bad one,you make it on the percentages.
helpful•40
- dbdumonteil
- Aug 25, 2018
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Schräger Charme und tolle Chancen
- Filming locations
- Paris, France(setting of the action in 'Lucky la Chance')
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
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