Going Places (1974)

Darkly hilarious - if a little over the top at times

This is the type of dark comedy that could only be made in France, it is so un-PC and graphic that it could never have come out of Hollywood. This film tells the tale of two young men (Gerard Depardieu and Patrick Dewaere) who wander around the French countryside causing trouble, creating havoc, looking for women, committing petty (and not so petty) crimes and generally just causing turmoil wherever they go. This is the film that made Depardieu a star in France in the mid 70s, he and his sidekick Dewaere play off each other wonderfully. Miou-Miou played the role of the vacuous nymphomaniac quite well also, much different than some of her later, more mature roles. One of the other reviewers compared this film to Easy Rider, but I think this is a mischaracterization. This film does not have the philosophic overtones or deeper meaning for a generation that is searching for itself that Easy Rider does. This is an unusual film, but I think it is more like a dark, violent, sexually explicit predecessor of the Jim Carrey film Dumb and Dumber, without the slapstick and body-function humor. Maybe this film explores the `angst' of the French youth of the 70's, and explores the newfound social freedom of the French youth at several levels. The film also takes several violent and completely unexpected turns (ala Pulp Fiction). I found some of the scenes to be absolutely hilarious. Bottom line is that this is an unusual (and unusually graphic) film, the subject matter may be offputting to some. If you are looking for an edgy, dark comedy, you may find this interesting. March 27, 2007

Going Places - but where?

Jean-Claude (Gerard Depardieu) and Pierrot (Patrick Dewaere) are two friends who like to lead life their own way and by their own rules. They harass and terrorize women, rob money from stores and steal cars. They even get away with it, even when their pictures are on the front page of the newspaper as accomplices to murder.

Early on, they abduct Marie-Ange (Miou-Miou) to rape her, but for some reason, despite further abuse, she later becomes their willing girlfriend. Marie-Ange is a fairly vacuous character (though undeniably beautiful, especially in her several nude scenes), but the same cannot be said for Jeanne (marvelously played by Jeanne Moreau). Marie-Ange is sexually frigid, so the two guys go off in search of a woman who'll give them more. They meet Jeanne after she's just been released following ten years in prison and so begins the film's most interesting section. Surprisingly, Jean-Claude takes a true liking to her. She's the only person either of these two guys actually respect and is the only character in the film with any real depth. She's everything that Jean-Claude and Pierrot are not - experienced, thoughtful, wise and possessing a real appreciation of what life has to offer. I'd liked to have seen a film about her life alone - and her appearance here is much too brief.

Other women in the film worth mentioning are Brigitte Fossey as a woman they harass on a train and a young Isabelle Huppert in one of the earliest roles of her illustrious career.

Ultimately, this is the kind of film where the viewer should not have to identify with the characters for it to work, given their unsavory nature. Jean-Claude and Pierrot never fell into the category of likeable rogues and they weren't as deliciously malevolent as someone like Malcolm McDowell in "A Clockwork Orange," so I'd like to have had more insight into these two guys. Still, this film is worth watching if for Jeanne Moreau alone.
November 14, 2006

shocking and offensive but strangely lyrical and charming,

I had mixed feelings for "Les Valseuses" (1974) written and directed by Bertrand Blier when I started watching it but I ended up liking it. I would not call it vulgar ("Dumb and Dumber" is vulgar, "The Sweetest Thing" is both vulgar and unforgivably stupid); I would call it shocking and offensive. I can understand why many viewers, especially, the females would not like or even hate it. It is the epitome of misogyny (or so it seems), and the way two antiheroes treat every woman they'd meet seems unspeakable. But the more I think of it the more I realize that it somehow comes off as a delightful little gem. I am fascinated how Blier was able to get away with it. The movie is very entertaining and highly enjoyable: it is well written, the acting by all is first - class, and the music is sweet and melancholic. Actually, when I think of it, two buddies had done something good to the women they came across to: they prepared a woman in the train (the lovely, docile blonde Brigitte Fossey who started her movie career with one of the most impressive debuts in René Clément's "Forbidden Games"(1952) at age 6) for the meeting with her husband whom she had not seen for two months; they found a man who was finally able to get a frigid Marie-Ange (Miou-Miou) exited and satisfied; they enlightened and educated young and very willing Isabelle Huppert (in one of her early screen appearances.) Their encounter with Jeanne Moreau elevates this comedy to the tragic level. In short, I am not sure I'd like to meet Gérard Depardieu's Jean-Claude and Patrick Dewaere's Pierrot in real life and invite them over for dinner but I had a good time watching the movie and two hours almost flew - it was never boring.

August 3, 2006

3 1/2 Stars: You Always Hurt The One You Love

Though I can appreciate the central performances of Miou Miou, Patrick Dewaere ( as Pierrot) and Gerard Depardieu ( as Jean-Claude) it is not until the legendary Jeanne Moreau shows up as a just released, wary jailbird with a secret, Jeanne Pirolle that I realize what my problem is with Bertrand Blier's "Going Places": it lacks humanity, it lacks a heart, it is cold, beautifully made and directed but icy and Moreau's short time onscreen radiates such warmth and humanity that it thaws this film for the short time that she is around.
Pierrot and Jean-Claude are amoral petty thieves, part-time lovers and full time jerks out for a good time: willing and eager to victimize anyone who deigns to get near them...for example Miou Miou as a depressed, almost catatonic beautician, Marie-Ange, who exists in Blier's and by extension Pierrot and Jean-Claude's world to taunt, beat and basically rape.
Blier's, who would direct the anarchic, witty and charming "Get Out Your Handkerchiefs" just four years later with Depardieu and Dewaere, "Going Places" amazes on the one hand in it's mean spiritedness and almost total lack of respect for humanity and on the other hand for its brilliant performances and knife-sharp precise film-making. And as such, "Going Places" is like a big, beautiful Chocolate Labrador puppy that wags its tail when you approach but snarls and bites you when you get close.
July 1, 2006

Compelling and absorbing drama!

This is an antiestablishment film, focused on the alienation of the young and the bankruptcy of their lives. It's cruel, outrageous,bizarre and provocative portrait around two decadent characters who fornicate, steal and live according theor own behavior codes.
The plot enriches itself due the presence of the incandescnet beauty of Jeanne Moreau who stars a woman back in circulation after ten years of prison.
You may establish without any doubt this film is the French answer to Easy Rider but gifted with a major scope and conceptual complexity, because it trascends the anecdote.
The enviable cast and the masterful direction of this promising director Bertrand Blier who ewentually who would become in a status filmmaker and one of the most gifted dierctors of his generation.
Mature film from start to finish.! July 9, 2005

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