A Pain in the Ass (1973)

A Pain in the Ass (1973). 1h 25m | PG

“u0026quot;Lu0026#39;Emmerdeuru0026quot; (1973) is the French movie which originated a US remake directed by Willy Wilder -u0026quot;Buddy Buddyu0026quot; (1981), starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. It was the last Wilder movie, not bad at all, but this original one is far better.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFrench star Lino Ventura and Belgian singer Jacques Brel were friends, they shot their first film together with Claude Lelouch u0026quot;Lu0026#39;aventure cu0026#39;est lu0026#39;aventureu0026quot;. They wanted to team again and chose established comedy director Edouard Molinaro for adapting this movie, written by Francis Veber -who later became another master of French comedy…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA gangster named Milan takes a room in a Montpellier hotel, which is located in front of a Tribunal. He has a mission -shooting from his window for killing the key witness of a trial. In the room next to his thereu0026#39;s a man, François Pignon, who is desperate instead. he wants to commit suicide because his wife quit him. The meeting of the two originates a series of accidents and misunderstandings…!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe comedy is excellent, with two actors in a really good shape. The highlight is that Brel and Ventura characters are so different and have nothing in common. Each, in his own side, is not funny -one is serious and cold, the other is sad and loser. BUT their combination is absolutely comical. (The way Brel calls Ventura -u0026quot;Monsieur Milan!u0026quot;- is irresistible!)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s a high quality comedy, one of the most famous ever made in France. Edouard Molinaro directed other great comedies -among them two films with Louis De Funès and u0026quot;La Cage aux follesu0026quot;, the gay comedy starring Michel Serrault and Ugo Tognazzi. Molinaro is at ease in making u0026quot;Lu0026#39;Emmerdeuru0026quot;, many scenes are also shot by himself carrying a camera on his shoulder…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut the other leading person behind this film is, as already said, Francis Veber. His lines and situations are typical of the comedies heu0026#39;ll direct later -among them u0026quot;La chèvreu0026quot; with Depardieu and Pierre Richard, u0026quot;Le diner des consu0026quot; and u0026quot;Le placardu0026quot;. Thereu0026#39;s his recognizable style of creating strange situations -Veber likes putting in his films two completely different actors and creating comical situations from that.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother thing: Jacques Brelu0026#39;s character is called François Pignon. Itu0026#39;s the same name Veber uses in his other films for one of the two leading roles -the name itself has become synonym of an awkward, unlucky, naive and a little stupid person…!”