First Hit: My four out-loud laughs did not mitigate an overall boring and poorly constructed film.
The opening scene has Suzanne Pujol (played by Catherine Deneuve) jogging (very lightly and slowly) down country lanes and through some wooded areas.
At one point she stops, coos at a fawn, watches two rabbits propagate, and makes conversation with a squirrel. She takes out a small note pad and writes a very short poem. This opening sequence is so unbelievable (reminded me of James Baskett as Uncle Remus singing to bluebirds) and obviously a put-on, that it sets a tone of expectation which the film never achieves.
It was possibly a great set-up, but the film fell on its face right after that scene. Coming home to her husband Robert (played by Fabrice Luchini) who is gruff, demanding, and sexist, Suzanne ignores his behavior and acts like June Cleaver (of Leave it to Beaver).
All the characters in this film are characterizations of stereotypes from the mid-seventies. She knows her husband has affairs but doesn’t care. He knows she knows. What we learn later is that she did the same thing and he doesn’t know.
One of the affairs is with Mayor and MP Maurice Babin (played by Gerard Depardieu). She stays with her husband because it is easy. Robert runs the umbrella factory which was started by Suzanne’s grandfather. The unionized labor in the factory want changes, Robert is unwilling to make them and suffers a heart ailment while fighting the union.
With unionized guidance given to her by Babin, Suzanne takes over the factory and everything is settled and the factory begins to prosper even more under her control. She, in fact, gets her two children involved and they flourish as well. Robert and the daughter scheme to make the father head of the factory again. But the power of leading people in a just cause that Suzanne gains from working at the umbrella factory has her decide to run for political office against Babin.
Deneuve is OK in this role but it feels so hollow and uninspired. Luchini is good as the demanding, thoughtless husband. Depardieu is somewhat depressing in this role as his body weight really gets in the way of being the once desired man. His hug with Deneuve is awkward and there is no spark between them. Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Gredy wrote an unfunny script. Francois Ozon directed this with a lack of sincerity and thought towards cohesiveness. For instance, in one scene they have characters looking out the upstairs window of Robert and Suzanne’s home to see the gates of the umbrella factory. The factory appears about 100 meters away from the house. But when they go the factory, they get into cars and drive for a number of minutes to get to the front gate, when it appeared to be only a 100 meters away. This made no sense.
Overall: The film didn’t know if it was a parody or actually trying to tell a good funny story. Because it was lost, it does neither of these and falls flat on its face.