Bonsoir
Encyclopedia
Plot
Having first lost his wife then his job as a tweed tailor, Alex Ponttin (Michel SerraultMichel Serrault
Michel Serrault was a celebrated French actor who appeared in over 150 films.-Biography :...
from Happiness is in the field
Happiness is in the field
Happiness Is in the Field is a French comedy directed by Étienne Chatiliez in 1995.- Plot :Francis Bergeade, owner of a toilet seats and brushes' factory in Dole, just turned 65 and his life is a misery. Tax services are harassing him, his snobby wife Nicole despises him and his daughter whimsily...
) has devised a novel way to keep himself in touch with society. He admits himself into people’s homes, by pretending to be a relative or an official, and persuading his victims to give him a night’s free board: He finds at first a lunch at the horrible couple Dumont (Jean-Pierre Bisson and Maike Jansen), where a thief follows him for a robbery. Alex spent an evening in front of TV at Marie (Marie-Christine Barrault
Marie-Christine Barrault
Marie-Christine Barrault is a French actress, who has appeared in 45 films and numerous television productions.Born in Paris, she got her start on television, in L'Œuvre, in 1967 and in the series Que ferait donc Faber? Her film debut was in 1969 in My Night at Maud's in 1969.In 1970 Barrault...
from Cousin, cousine
Cousin, cousine
Cousin, cousine is a 1975 French film which tells the story of cousins-by-marriage who have an affair when they discover that their spouses have been unfaithful. It stars Marie-Christine Barrault, Victor Lanoux and Marie-France Pisier....
), mother of seven children. He runs from Marie to find an evening and a new bed at the home of charming but shy lesbian Caroline (Claude Jade
Claude Jade
Claude Marcelle Jorré, better known as Claude Jade , was a French actress, known for starring as Christine in François Truffaut's three films Stolen Kisses , Bed and Board and Love on the Run . Jade acted in theatre, film and television...
from Bed & Board) and her funny lover Gloria (Corinne Le Poulain
Corinne Le Poulain
Corinne Le Poulain is a French actress.Niece of actor Jean Le Poulain, she seduces Jean Marais on-screen in the film La Provocation . She is famous as Sally in TV-series Sam & Sally. A great success during the 70s with based-on-novel-TV-series Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes...
from The Provocation).
To save her inheritance, Caroline - accused for her homosexuality by her horrible sister Catherine (Laurence Vincendon) - tells her aunt Amélie (Monique Darpy), that Gloria is her secretary and Alex her lover. So Alex has to present himself nude in Caroline's bed. He saves Carolines inheritance.
Fortunately, the police officers (Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Jean-Claude Dreyfus is a French actor. He began his career in film acting in 1973 in the film Comment réussir quand on est con et pleurnichard. Dreyfus is notable for his portrayal of a butcher in the black comedy Delicatessen by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet...
from Delicatessen
Delicatessen (film)
Delicatessen is a 1991 French black comedy film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, starring Dominique Pinon and Karin Viard. It is set in an apartment building in a post-apocalyptic France of an ambiguous time period. The story focuses on the tenants of the building and their desperate...
) investigating the case are so terminally stupid that Alex has little chance of being arrested…
As in many of Jean-Pierre Mocky
Jean-Pierre Mocky
Jean-Pierre Mocky is the pseudonym of Jean-Paul Adam Mokiejewski, a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer...
’s films, there is a strong anti-establishment, almost anarchist sub-text. This is manifested in the way that the self-proclaimed moral figures (the police, the clergy, even the President of the Republic) are presented in this film, but also in the elevation of Alex Ponttin (Michel Serrault) to the status of a public hero at the end of the film. Whilst society and state sink into a numbing inertia, bereft of integrity and humanity, it is left to the eccentrics, the outsiders like worried Caroline (Claude Jade), who is attacked by her sister and her aunt because the secret of her homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, to build a more cohesive society and a better world.
Michel Serrault excels in this off-the-wall satirical comedy which makes a bizarre assessment of modern life. He plays an impish vagrant who uses his new-found freedom to improve the lives of his fellow man, by briefly insinuating himself into their lives. Bonsoir goes much further and suggests that whole of modern society, not only the police, is culpable of mediocrity and moral laxity. It takes an outsider like Alex Ponttin, free from the bonds of modern living, to point the way to a better future.
Cast
- Michel SerraultMichel SerraultMichel Serrault was a celebrated French actor who appeared in over 150 films.-Biography :...
as Alex Ponttin - Claude JadeClaude JadeClaude Marcelle Jorré, better known as Claude Jade , was a French actress, known for starring as Christine in François Truffaut's three films Stolen Kisses , Bed and Board and Love on the Run . Jade acted in theatre, film and television...
as Caroline Winberg - Marie-Christine BarraultMarie-Christine BarraultMarie-Christine Barrault is a French actress, who has appeared in 45 films and numerous television productions.Born in Paris, she got her start on television, in L'Œuvre, in 1967 and in the series Que ferait donc Faber? Her film debut was in 1969 in My Night at Maud's in 1969.In 1970 Barrault...
as Marie - Corinne Le PoulainCorinne Le PoulainCorinne Le Poulain is a French actress.Niece of actor Jean Le Poulain, she seduces Jean Marais on-screen in the film La Provocation . She is famous as Sally in TV-series Sam & Sally. A great success during the 70s with based-on-novel-TV-series Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes...
as Gloria - Jean-Claude DreyfusJean-Claude DreyfusJean-Claude Dreyfus is a French actor. He began his career in film acting in 1973 in the film Comment réussir quand on est con et pleurnichard. Dreyfus is notable for his portrayal of a butcher in the black comedy Delicatessen by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet...
as Bruneau - Jean-Pierre Bisson as Marcel Dumont
- Maike Jansen as Yvonne Dumont
- Laurence Vincendon as Caroline's sister
- Monique Darpy as Caroline's aunt
- Lauren Grandt as Greta, the thief
- Catherine MouchetCatherine MouchetCatherine Mouchet is a French actress. She studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, following the courses of Jacques Lassalle and Claude Régy. She is best known for her portrayal of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux in the film Thérèse directed by Alain Cavalier...
as Eugénie - Serge Riaboukine as Priest
- Dominique ZardiDominique ZardiDominique Zardi was a French actor. He played in more than 600 films-Selected filmography:- External links :* *...
as Caroline's neighbour