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Eddie Vuibert (Richard Anconina) is a gentile, down on his
luck and nearly broke when a happy coincidence turns his fortunes
around. Following a misidentification he gets a job and starts
working his way up in the rag trade world, problem is it's
solely run by the Sephardic Jewish community and outsiders
are not particularly welcome. Passing himself off as a non-practising
Ashkenazi, he needs to keep his wits about him if he is to
hold on to his job. Problem is Eddie knows nothing about Jewish
ritual or beliefs, leading to many a misunderstanding. A true
comedy of errors...
Would
I lie to You (La Verite si je mens 1997) became
a surprise hit when it was first released in France. This
romantic comedy became the highest grossing French film of
all time. The principle cast are all young and attractive,
well the girls are anyway.
Directed by Thomas Gilou this is a good if not great film,
but then for comedy films that's a matter of personal choice.
Would I lie feels more like a ribald version of a Woody
Allen film; lots of smiling moments but little in the way
of straight out laughs - but then I liked Naked Gun,
which kind of gives away my own comedic level. The main cast,
too numerous to detail here, are very relaxed in their roles
and I couldn't fault a single performance.
In a two for one deal the disc also includes the follow up
film. Would I lie to You, Again (2001) has a great
James Bond pastiche opening sequence. The boys' seem to have
hit the big time but the advent of Internet trading and cheap
clothing is pushing the rag trade to the wall. Eddie decides
that the way out of the financial restrictions is to approach
the discount kings at EuroDiscount, but Vierhouten (Daniel
Prevost giving a great performance) has other ideas and double
crosses the boys. Meanwhile, Serge (Jose Garcia) has a major
problem. Having borrowed his wealthy cousins Rolls he meets
Chochana (Elisa Tovati) and falls in love, but would she be
just as happy with a motorcycle messenger who lives with his
mother? Can the boys' blag their way out of trouble and will
the poor boy get the girl of his dreams?
The
second film is played much more for laughs and borders on
farce at times. Sad to say that some of the originality of
the first film is lost here, indeed the dinner scene feels
too much like a rerun of the same scene in La Cage aux
Folles where its was much funnier. That said, if you enjoyed
the first film you going to love the second. The principle
actors return and seem a little more relaxed in their roles.
Plus, the success of the first film allowed the makers to
widen the landscape for this second offering, away from just
the street of Paris, to include northern Africa, giving a
plusher more expensive feel.
For
the price this is a good deal. You may feel that a lot of
the humour would be lost in translation, and I'm sure that
there is an element of that. But give it a go - France makes
some good comedy films, if you like this I'd recommend that
you also check out La Cage aux Folles, Les Visiteurs,
Amelie
or Taxi.
Sound
is stereo and the picture is good. There are no extras on
the disc. Also, whilst the subtitles worked well on my DVD
player, I had to watch the second film on a computer as the
player had real problems in playing the subtitles.
So
a couple of good, if not great, comedies. If you're into Gallic
humour this is a good deal. It's just a shame about the subtitle
problem.
Charles
Packer
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