Delightful bravura performance from Jean-Pierre Marielle as a French type, a man among men, full of mouth (his vivid and colourful speech a joy to hear), fond of a glass, ready with his fists, and would-be mighty lover. Though he enjoys successes with women, for a time, reality does not live up to his self-image.
The film shows us five chapters of his love life: first a failed marriage to the pastry shop owner; second a failed relationship with the butchery shop owner; third a marriage to the rejected mistress of the man who took his second partner; fourth rejecting the approaches of a music teacher; and fifth his wife making approaches to a lad half his age.
Whether age will mellow him into acceptance of things as they are, or whether his limited views on women will condemn him to more disappointment, we cannot know. But I found the journey enjoyable.
The film shows us five chapters of his love life: first a failed marriage to the pastry shop owner; second a failed relationship with the butchery shop owner; third a marriage to the rejected mistress of the man who took his second partner; fourth rejecting the approaches of a music teacher; and fifth his wife making approaches to a lad half his age.
Whether age will mellow him into acceptance of things as they are, or whether his limited views on women will condemn him to more disappointment, we cannot know. But I found the journey enjoyable.