La Petite vadrouille: an irresistible country tale (review)
In the form of a social comedy and a scam story, Bruno Podalydès offers a delightful country fable with Daniel Auteuil in great form.
A year after the release of the disappointing Wow!, Bruno Podalydès is already back with a comedy which takes the opposite view from the real estate visits of the previous opus to tell the story of an escape into the great outdoors. The filmmaker thus depicts a joyous scam with the air of social satire where a rich businessman (played by Daniel Auteuil) asks one of his employees (played by Sandrine Kiberlain) to organize an idyllic weekend for him in exchange for a nice sum of money. The interested party invites into the scheme her husband and their group of financially strapped friends who will all pose as members of a marine crew and embark on a fake river cruise in the hope of obtaining the most money. possible money from the posh passenger. But this attempt at a bucolic scam will bring unexpected twists and turns…
If the story of this phony (inspired in part by To Be or not to Be by Ernst Lubitsch) is a pretext for filming a sparkling waltz of lies in the heart of verdant nature, the comic success is also due to the enthusiastic performance of Daniel Auteuil – a newcomer in the cinema of Bruno Podalydès – who is having fun like a little fool in the shoes of a seducer with old-fashioned charm who turns out to be less naive than expected. Also drawing the best from the filmmaker's loyal band of actors (Denis Podalydès, Isabelle Candelier, Jean-Noël Brouté, etc.), this rustic tale carries high the love of theatrical illusion and makes you dream for a weekend to a kinder and peaceful world.
By Bruno Podalydès With Daniel Auteuil, Sandrine Kiberlain, Denis Podalydès… Duration 1h36. Released June 5, 2024
