Since I'm approaching 79 myself (the age of Chabrol when the film was released) I don't want to hear any talk that maybe the movie suffered from the director's senilility. But it's possible that Depardieu agreed to act in the film mainly because he owed Chabrol a favor, or maybe he just wanted to be in one of the illustrious director's films finally, before it was too late (it soon was: Chabrol died in September 2010). (Or maybe, as a follower reminded me, Depardieu just needed to eat.)
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- Said reviewer Kyle Smith in The New York Post:
Despite being told with a straight face, the plot borders on the absurd. An insurance company executive (Jacques Gamblin) who wants to fake his own death so he can run off with his mistress while his wife profits happens to meet a hobo who is his identical twin. The homeless man agrees to go on a fateful car trip with the scam artist—because he is enticed by a promise to visit the grave of the folk singer Georges Brassens. You'd think an insurer would know that even well-charred dead bodies are readily identified by their dental work.
Depardieu is a good actor. Who knows, perhaps he needed the money. I've seen some big stars take crummy roles for the right price. They also have to eat.
ReplyDeleteDamn! I didn't think of that, but of course that's always a possibility. I hope he got his money up front, though, as there might not have been much of it on the other end. But who knows? Maybe it did well in France.
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