Nonureva Really Surprised!

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

jotix100 A guerrilla war is raging on an unknown part of South America. Several radio stations have sent correspondents to cover the struggle. Unfortunately, the head of the revolutionary forces is almost impossible to track down. Only Christian Gerber, of the Parisian Radio Plus is able to get a taped interview, which the rebel leader does not want him to take back, he demands to seize the tape recorder. In the meantime, the other so-called reporters are filing fake reports of the ongoing war.When Gerber gets back he finds a transformed Radio Plus. Everything has been changed to include some form of Christian format in which even the commercials acquire a religious format. What is really going on, Gerber wonders. It appears the owner of the radio station only desire is a gimmick to sell products and tell the news that way for Louis-Marcel Thulle to give the public a distorted view of reality.Gerber, who is given a prominent role in the programming, goes along up to a point when he decides enough is enough. Then, changing his strategy he adopts a sort of laboratory in which all companies advertising in Radio Plus are tested to see if they really are what the manufacturers claim it to be. As a result, the firms begin to experiencing losses for which Gerber's tenure in the station is questioned. Thulle, a silly man, sides with the different business peers, firing Gerber, who by then, is only too happy to go.A different satire by Jean Yanne, an actor turned director. The comedy was way ahead of its times. The film is sadly dated, a lot has changed from that era, even though there are still problems with the effectiveness of some of the claims on products being pushed to the general public. Mr. Yanne an actor who enjoyed a long career in the French cinema tried his hand with this biting satire as his first effort at the movies with some mixed results.Aside from the great take Jean Yanne gives with his Gerber, the great Bernard Blier showed up as Louis-Marcel Thulle, a vapid rich man more interested in playing with children's toys that were a fad at the time than really conducting his business with conviction and dignity. Others in the film include Marina Vlady at the height of her beauty. Michel Serrault, Jacques Francois, a funny Jacqueline Danno, Ginette Garcin, and the rest of the supporting cast contribute to make this an unusual film dealing with real issues.

GrandeMarguerite (Sorry for the lousy play on words in French as the title of this critic, but I couldn't think of anything better. This is my little homage to the humor of the film.) This movie, with its incredible title, marked Jean Yanne's directorial debut. Jean Yanne was an acclaimed comedian at the beginning of the 70s after his brilliant performances for Claude Chabrol in the diptych "Le boucher" ("The Butcher") and "Que la bête meure" ("The beast must die"). But Jean Yanne was also a TV and a radio man, and in 1971, he began to write with his radio mate Gérard Sire what would become "Tout le monde il est beau...". Jean Yanne's first movie is therefore a (ferocious) satire of a milieu he knew intimately: commercial radio. Don't get the movie wrong : although you may be offended by the numerous and very ironical allusions to (Christian) religion, the real target is the power of media and the excesses of the consumer-society. "Radio is based on hypocrisy", said Jean Yanne. "It only has one goal beneath all the eyewash: to unload deodorant, toothpaste or washing-powder." Yanne as the central character plays a dishonest and highly cynical journalist who turns a small radio station into a sort of "Radio Vatican" with the clear goal to make money and nothing but. He gathered as the supporting cast perhaps the finest cabaret comedians and cinema actors of the time, with Bernard Blier, Ginette Garcin (who sings two hilarious songs), Jacques François, Paul Préboist, Daniel Prévost, les Frères Ennemis... It is only a pity that Yanne couldn't obviously direct himself and let the other actors steal the show! (To have an idea of how good Yanne was as an actor, please check the films he did with Chabrol, Pialat and Godard). It is true that the movie has indeed aged a bit badly (ah, those references to the student revolt of '68, to Biafra and the Vietnam War! Ah, that psychedelic pop art!), but some scenes are still hilarious -- if you are receptive to that kind of humor, that is! If you are very religious, don't even try to watch this. The soundtrack has just been reissued on CD in France and it is a wonder. The music has aged very nicely and there are quite amazing and devastatingly funny numbers. To give you an idea, it is "Woodstock meets the Vatican", no kidding! Then you can treat yourself with Jean Yanne's voice and his very caustic lyrics. A highly recommended CD!

Stefan Kahrs This satire, set in a commercial radio station is in some sense similar to Weird Al Yankovic's UHF. The emphasis is more on satire than comedy though and it tries too hard to be topical. As a result, it has badly aged. When I watched it, I didn't know when it was made but it was instantly clear that it could not have been made after 1973 and not before 1971, and that 1972 was very likely indeed. The problem is that the things it satirises were topical for its time, but many have long since faded to be issues. Still, that makes it an interesting document of its era.Having said that the film has a few glorious moments of comedy, especially whenever Bernard Blier enters the frame; as ever, an excellent example of dead-pan delivery. The weakest ingredient of the whole piece is Jean Yanne as the leading actor. While Monsieur Yanne does a reasonable job as director, he forgets to direct himself. His attitude "I'm the hero, you are all supposed to love me" gets soon on your nerves, it alienates.