A new comedy from France’s Francis Veber, who wrote and directed the delightful Diner de Cons, comes the latest in the Francois Pignon series, Le Valet.
I had planned to watch Almodovar’s Volver this weekend, but I saw the Palace Verona was showing Le Valet and dropped Spanish for French. I’ll leave Volver for Tracy to watch first, while I chuckled softly at French comedy.
People often look at French comedy with disdain, but I have a soft spot for it. it’s not as predictable, I find and it has a different timing that’s refreshing. Plus, the sound of French adds so much to the entertainment, with their peculiarisms and accents films like Asterix et Obelix, or from Jacque Tati show that the French are people with a good belly for laughing.
Le Valet is different from the Veber’s last films, where Francois Pignon is a stumbling, bumbling idiot. This time, Pignon is loyal and simple, preferring to work as a valet for a pricey restaurant.
Naturally, romance makes its way into the movie the girl he loves won’t marry him.
Luckily or unluckily, Pignon happens to be walking down the street when a paparrazzi takes a photo of a industrial CEO and his mistress. In a very Francophone twist, the CEO arranges for his mistress to live with Pignon as his girlfriend, in order to protect his marriage and his fortune.
Ah, those zany fools! We all know that this will end up in disaster. thankfully, the results are hilarious for us…
Alice Taglioni in le valet
The movie really shines in the actress that plays the mistress, Alice Taglioni, a stunning blonde actress with incredible legs, dazzling eyes, a shapely figure and a smile that makes your chest feel squeezed by a vice.
She’s the mistress, but it’s hard to feel resentful of her. she’s intelligent and caring, which is tough to buy since she’s supposed to be a supermodel. It’s even harder to buy when you see her compared to the real Chanel models. they’re all sickly looking, but Taglioni is curvaceous. She makes us all want to date supermodels, even to give Naomi Campbell a chance.
Le Valet is an easy to watch drink of lemonade on a hot summer’s day it’s refreshing and is packed with Vitamin C. Two elderly French ladies were watching in front of us, and I wondered how it must’ve reminded them of an ideal France, one without unemployment and tensions brimming across the surface where the cafes and restaurants are charming and colourful. Where everyone is a character for an hour and a half.
I say: To be honest, if you’re not a fan of French comedy, you might find Le Valet shallow and thematically devoid… on the other hand, it makes for an entertaining afternoon with the dismal weather we’ve been having lately.
See it for: I’ll say Taglioni again but special mention must be made for Pignon’s friend, the other valet. The dialogue between the two is brilliantly idiotic.
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