CLAUDE SAUTET

Before the terrible term feelgood film was invented, there was the cinema of Claude Sautet. Even if his greatest masterpiece is a gangster film (Classe Tous Risques), Sautet tried to make our lives better by showing fragments from daily life in films like Les Choses De La Vie en César et Rosalie Sautet previously worked with Yves Montand, but the producers thought that it would not be so easy to persuade him for this project. In 1983 Montand was still the fave actor of Costa-Gavras, the grand master of French political thrillers. In his latest film Sautet wanted to tell the story of a man who works as a waiter in a brasserie after an unsuccessful career as a tap dancer and dreamsof starting his own playground for children. It is a story that many actors would reject, but Montand immediately agreed after he read the paper-thin script. Garçon is not Montand's best film, but undoubtedly one of his funniest!

The film was a bit overlooked in 1983 and was only a hit in France because Montand is an institution there. In times of restored versions on Blu-ray (and also by the current offerings in the cinema that are sad) we have the ability to rediscover great classics, Garçon is an ultimate example. For 90 minutes we are in the company of the sympathetic Alex (Yves Montand) who works day in and day out like a madman to serve the customers. The kitchen is a real cauldron and he can hardly stand the stress, but the customer is king and so Alex puts on a smile, even though his private life is a mess. He lives with his best friend and colleague Gilbert (Jacques Villeret), but he dreams of a relationship with Claire (Nicole Garcia), but that does not work out so well.

Garçon is a great movie on two fronts. The film feels like a splendid musical (even though not one word is sung), but it is also the time spirit that ensures some hilarity. We can hardly imagine it today, yet it was normal in 1983 that a waiter gave you a dish with in his other hand a cigarette. The script writers made sure that Montand always had nice company. Alex is penniless, even a bit old and lives with a colleague in a little apartment, yet young women fall for his charm. And we could go on for a while, but Garçon is simply delicious French cinema with a brilliant Montand, the kind of film that we miss in the cinema halls today.

Didier BECU
01/08/2015