Marche à l'ombre

Denis and François come back from a long trip and reach Paris with nothing. No home, no money. François thinks he will find work with his guitar; Denis is a permanent hypochondriac who complains about everything. The two begin a life spent in metro entrances, empty flats and the houses of acquaintances. Michel Blanc directs and plays Denis. Gérard Lanvin plays François. Michel Blanc came out of the French comedy troupe Splendid, the group that shaped French comedy in the seventies and eighties, and this is the first feature he directed himself. The humour comes from the difference between the two: one worries about nothing, the other about everything. The narrative uses that to the end and leaves the plotting loose. The background is the Paris of the eighties: unemployment, cheap hotels and cash work. The narrative does not present it as a problem, and every scene takes place inside that condition. It was an enormous commercial success in France, among the most watched films of its year, and its lines stayed in circulation for a long time. Who it is for: viewers who like eighties French comedy and two hander friendship films. Who it is not for: the humour is tied to its language and period, the narrative is scattered, and the women have no function.