When I watched "Bon Voyage" (2003) a few nights ago, I did not connect it with the 1990 Depardieu "Cyrano de Bergerac" or the dashing costume romance/drama "Le hussard sur le toit" (Horseman on the Roof, 1995, starring Olivier Martinez and Juliette Binoche), both of which Jean-Paul Rappeneau directed, let alone to the delightful "That Man from Rio" (1964) and subversive comedy "Zazie dans le Métro" (1960) which he coscripted. And I had not seen La vie de chateau, which was Rappaneau's directorial debut back in 1966.

I was insufficiently prepared for the wild genre blurring of "Bon Voyage." It is partly a thriller about getting a Jewish scientist, Professeur Kopolski (Jean-Marc Stehlé) out of France before France surrenders to the Nazis in 1940. It is partly a screwball romantic comedy (actually two screwball romantic comedies) involving the engaging, amiable, but close-to-clueless unpublished novelist Frédéric Auger (Grégori Derangère). It is also a satire of officious ministers of the French Third Republic strutting a bit, but mostly craven and panicked by the German blitzkrieg. I think there is also a satire of the vapidity and egomania of movie stars, embodied by chanteuse (soubrette) in her early 20s, Viviane Denvers, astonishingly convincingly played by the then-48-year-old Isabelle Adjani (who had costarred with Yves Montand in Rappaneau's "Tout feu, tout flamme" back in 1982).

Frédéric has been besotted by Viviane since childhood and she has used him with the ruthlessness of a total narcissist repeatedly. Near the start of "Bon voyage" (the actual start is a screening of her latest escapist movie), she lets him take the rap for killing one of her patrons who got out of hand.

In the confusion of collapsing France, Frédéric escapes from prison with the wily career criminal Raoul (Yvan Attal--for my money the funniest character in "Bon Voyage"--he has played supporting roles in Stephen Spielberg's "Munich" and Sydney Pollack's "The Interpreter") who later manages to commandeer a truck loaded with good-vintage wine and who also appreciates Camille (Virginie Ledoyen, Leonardo di Caprio's love interest in "The Beach" and one of Ozon's "8 Women"), Professor Kopolski's student/assistant. Although unable to stop aiding Viviane, Frédéric falls in love with Camille. The real romantic chemistry in the movie is between Camille and the escaped prisoners.

Viviane shows no signs of having a heart, but is very good at manipulating men -- not just Frédéric, but her current protector, Minister of the Interior Jean-Étienne Beaufort (played with appropriate sententiousness but not buffoonery by Gérard Depardieu, who had been Rappaneau's Cyrano, a more tragic though tragicomic role).

I guess there is something Hitchockian (of the "39 Steps, "Notorious" and "North by Northwest" kind) in the thriller aspects and the mix of sexual antagonism/frustration with attraction. (Perhaps because there is not the hardcore brokenheartedness of "Casablanca," I did not think of it at all while watching "Bon Voyage.) The collapse of the Third Republic (1870-1940) seems an unlikely choice for setting a farce. The desperation on display in "The Last Train" and Suite Française is not apparent in "Bon Voyage." It seems far closer in spirit to Ernst Lubitch's farce of Czechs and Nazi occupiers in "To Be or Not To Be" (1942, starring Carole Lombard and Jack Benny).

I liked the Frédéric/Camille/Raoul/Kopolski escape movie more than watching Viviane manipulate Frédéric, Beaufort, or her "friends" who are going to Nice with so much luggage that they have no room for her. Viviane also takes for granted that she can use Alex Winkler (the character name is an allusion to "The Third Man," the part is played by Peter Coyote, speaking fluent French and German). Trying not to reveal too much, let's say that Winckler is in the line of Hitchcock villains and uses her more than is used by her.

The mixture or juxtaposition of genres must discombobulate some viewers, especially given that the farce as well as the satire are set in the Bordeaux where the deputies and ministers of the collapsing Troisième République regrouped after fleeing Paris.

I especially enjoyed the progress (through space, certainly he had no time to work on it) of Frédéric's manuscript. And, as I said, the charming rogue played by Yvan Attal.

The music supplied by Gabriel Yared is more varied than Michel Legrand's 1960s scores including the one he wrote for Rappeneau's "La vie chateau."

Thierry Arbogast, who supplied the ravishing visual richness to Rappaneau's "Le hussard sur le toit" (and to Luc Besson's "La Femme Nikita," "Léon (The Professional)" "The Messenger," and "The Dragon's Kiss" (and to Nick Cassaveates's "She's So Lovely"... and to "Catwoman")) does more fine work in a large variety of interior and a few exterior settings.

The DVD has a commentary track in French by Rappeneau for which subtitles in English are available--sometimes at the top rather than the bottom of the screen. When he falls silent, the subtitles from the movie appear.

I don't think that everything Rappeneau tried in "Bon Voyage" works, but it has definite pleasures in my estimation, and in that of la Barbara, herdswoman of the French finds writeoff and curator of all things French on epinions. Rappeneau makes his love for 1940s Hollywood screwball comedies clear and provides information on the historical backdrop, as well as discussing how special effects were achieved (and that Peter Coyote is a long-time friend).

The American DVD also includes a trailer for the movie and for some other Columbia TriStar releases. The visual transfer seems excellent, the sound a bit muted (but my remote has volume control, so I turned up the volume).

There is a two-volume French special edition with more material.

BTW, I think that it is better to watch this 2003 movie set in 1940 before La vie de chateau," Rappeneau's 1966 movie set in 1944, at the other end of the Nazi occupation of France--and also mixing farces, satire, and spying. And I may as well make another plug for Rappeaneau's highly entertaining "Le hussard sur le toit" (Horseman on the Roof, celebrated in great detail by the prodigal Metalluk), the miraculous Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, Georges Simenon's roman dur Dirty Snow, Louis Malle's poignant Lacombe, Lucien, and the anarchic high-energy/hapless Belmondo comedy "That Man from Rio." (And I want to see Rappeneau's 1975 "Le Sauvage.")


© 2008, Stephen O. Murray




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