Daddy Funès' multifaceted career includes several bourgeois conventional comedies that we have already discussed on this site (HIBERNATUS, Oscar), and some less conventional humorous outings, such as L'HOMME ORCHESTRE and LE GRAND RESTAURANT. A comedy of music and dance, L'HOMME ORCHESTRE is an attempt at a sex comedy—with Funès in his usual sexless austere persona; he performs the head of a dance troop, as his choreographic talent allowed him.
I think Funès would of made a convincing faun (Funès could have been, had he consented, an ultra—Finlay ), yet the type—casting or maybe his own ambitions and prejudices and petty bourgeois respectability—which again reverts to type—casting—kept him away from this and he promoted an asexual, grumpy sexless persona—like the irascible Evan—Evans in this comedy.
L'HOMME ORCHESTRE's sexpot is a mellow blonde, Françoise, slightly plumper than the other babes in Funès' dance ensemble, and shown as conveniently loving an oldster. Another blonde, Hendrike—a young mom—seemed on the brink of taking over, but no . So, to speak my mind, this is perhaps not a very good comedy, quite deficiently written, and one whose presumed and self—styled originality is not convincing; yet it is of course recommended to Funès fans because it features a few genuine Funès bits of 'divertissement. Except for Funès himself, nothing else is really very good in L'HOMME ORCHESTRE, and the movie looks, as I said, sadly undecided and murky. Of course such comedy—exploitation is not at all unusual in most famous comedy actors' careers. This one has the changing content of a varieties TV show; even Funès' character ceaselessly switches between the dances patron prestige and the yellow sportswear of a funny oldster .
The French popular comedies gone fancy tend to have somewhat loose structures, to look a bit pointless, to be rather vaguely paced; this one, and others like it, are not sophisticated comedies—in the sense Tati's are, but popular comedies gone fancy . L'HOMME ORCHESTRE is indeed a bit murky, undecided about its own nature—a dance comedy, a grumpy asexual Funès comedy, Françoise's romance --then, in the last third, a baby comedy, with the baby of one of the dancing girls . The movie looks like a series of _divagations, and it offers only some very vague fun; anyway, even in terms of fun L'HOMME ORCHESTRE is meaningless—what was it about? It might have been about Evan—Evans' nephew, after all. The girls are nice, and the dancing numbers rather average.
I think Funès would of made a convincing faun (Funès could have been, had he consented, an ultra—Finlay ), yet the type—casting or maybe his own ambitions and prejudices and petty bourgeois respectability—which again reverts to type—casting—kept him away from this and he promoted an asexual, grumpy sexless persona—like the irascible Evan—Evans in this comedy.
L'HOMME ORCHESTRE's sexpot is a mellow blonde, Françoise, slightly plumper than the other babes in Funès' dance ensemble, and shown as conveniently loving an oldster. Another blonde, Hendrike—a young mom—seemed on the brink of taking over, but no . So, to speak my mind, this is perhaps not a very good comedy, quite deficiently written, and one whose presumed and self—styled originality is not convincing; yet it is of course recommended to Funès fans because it features a few genuine Funès bits of 'divertissement. Except for Funès himself, nothing else is really very good in L'HOMME ORCHESTRE, and the movie looks, as I said, sadly undecided and murky. Of course such comedy—exploitation is not at all unusual in most famous comedy actors' careers. This one has the changing content of a varieties TV show; even Funès' character ceaselessly switches between the dances patron prestige and the yellow sportswear of a funny oldster .
The French popular comedies gone fancy tend to have somewhat loose structures, to look a bit pointless, to be rather vaguely paced; this one, and others like it, are not sophisticated comedies—in the sense Tati's are, but popular comedies gone fancy . L'HOMME ORCHESTRE is indeed a bit murky, undecided about its own nature—a dance comedy, a grumpy asexual Funès comedy, Françoise's romance --then, in the last third, a baby comedy, with the baby of one of the dancing girls . The movie looks like a series of _divagations, and it offers only some very vague fun; anyway, even in terms of fun L'HOMME ORCHESTRE is meaningless—what was it about? It might have been about Evan—Evans' nephew, after all. The girls are nice, and the dancing numbers rather average.