Product: May Fools [VHS] (1990)
Rating: 5.0
midsummer nights social comedy
With a hint of Renoir's Rules of the Game as well as Chekov's Cherry Orchard, and everything in between this town and country comedy begins with the tragedy of the family matriarchs death. The extended family gathers for a weekend funeral but the ceremony is delayed because of a workers strike which has brought life to a standstill. In the stillness of the country the weekend turns into an extended retreat that becomes more and more bohemian and brazen as the country air and contact with the soil has put each character in contact with their true desires and it seems everyone is with the wrong person. An all day picnic in the sun turns into a partner swapping party but is interrupted at the last minute when rumours of government collapse reach the isolated country estate. Fearing that an all out revolution has begun the family packs up and hikes into the woods until they finally end up in a cave in an ultimate act of cultural regression. Great cast of characters make up the family members and their spouses and lovers(including hippie, lesbian, revolutionary student, resentful daughter, unsupecting heiress maid, ....). The odd assortment makes for a volatile social mix leading to all kinds of destabilising conversations and confrontations which threaten to undermine the family structure from within. Malle cleverly has the family itself come unhinged as they attempt to act out in the personal sphere those revolutionary philosophies being put forth in the public. Everyone has different notions so the result is chaos, unrestrained anarchy, but it remains funny and entertaining all the way through. As well Malle provides wise and pointed observations with a surprising amount of social insight along the way. In short you get a lot more than you might have bargained for but you're glad to get it.