Customer Reviews

Les Valseuses [DVD]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Les Valseuses may have seemed avant-garde when it was released but it now seems to me to be offensive and rather pointless. There is nothing clever about bullying yobs on the prowl being totally selfish and treating other people, particularly women, badly.

Much better in every respect is Blier's later film Tenue de Soirée, again with Gérard Depardieu as a larger-than-life figure and again with Miou Miou. It is even franker in sexual content but much better written, wittier and strangely lyrical -- a bitter-sweet look, cruel yet tender, at human sexual desire, gay and straight. It's a much more mature work with an excellent supporting cast and I'm surprised it's not at the moment available in a region 2 subtitled version.

Les Valseues have key elements to be a classic:
Excellent performances (Depardieu outstanding, Deweare almost touching perfection, Miou Miou is unforgettable)
Completely original script.
Superb direction and control of an almost totally implausible story.
One of my favorite films of all times. Adult themes, outrageous situations, drama, passions and relationships tested to the limit.

This film was thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable! Depardieu and Dewaere are a couple of aimless rogues who wander around the 70's French countryside causing havoc. They steal cars for fun, find various ways to obtain Francs, and use and discard women like you wouldn't believe. There are many sex scenes which are often hilarious (as in Rita, Sue and Bob too). If you like obscure but unique French film-making at it's best, you wont go wrong with this gem.

While it is very much a product of its time, I have to admit to feeling a certain lever of discomfort at the level of misogyny and violence against women in this film. At first it seemed mildly amusing with the characters of Jean-Claude and Pierrot as likeable rogues who steal what they want and have sex with who they want and within the context of the film it was somewhat justifiable, but halfway through the film it started to made me feel fairly uncomfortable. Despite the negative aspects of the film it's extremely watchable and strangely has a certain charm about it.

I love this film! - It has to be one of my all-time favourites, but beware it is definitely ADULT and not for the squeamish ... Who needs Hollywood? - ;)

Brilliant french comedy that looks just as good on DVD as it did on video. Some scenes of a sexual nature and nudity so do not buy if this would offend.

That is what I like about French cinema:
French cinema was different (unfortunately ending in 1993 with the "General Agreement on Trade and Tarriffs", ensuring US dominance of even the French market). But this is an example of a cult film starring Gerard Depardieu, and whilst it captures masculinity, it also marked the end of the "grand narratives" and almost borders into the pornographic.

Very different to the "restrained" British movie and well advanced to the ailing German cinema at the time.

Very funny and sexy. Yes it is very 70s but I think this just gives the movie extra kitsch . Jeanne Moreau sending up her Jules Jim role is great and Miou Miou too . Great to see when french films used to be good and the women in them attractive with out being objectified . Reminded me of those evenings when bbc2 used to show classic french cinema.

Wanted a copy of this movie since I first watched it on Filmnet many years ago. To me this is Depardieu at his best and it was a joy to watch again in dvd clarity. A cult movie indeed and deservedly. Great movie at a snip of a price!

This is the story of two thoroughly unpleasant young(ish) men with a total inability to relate to women, who travel around acting out their masterbation fantasies to an excellent soundtrack. This is a road movie about three women making their individual journeys towards sexual fulfillment, adulthood and resolution to an excellent soundtrack. This film is a hilarious send-up of the bourgoisie, which the French do so well. This is a new-age, hippy film about living by your own rules and Kharma (watch out for the green car). This the most disturbing film I had seen at age eighteen, I still remembered most of it when I watched it again nearly twenty years later.
In a waltz couples move around in circles, with the women mostly going backwards (the English title is "Going Places" but should perhaps be "Going Nowhere"). "Les Valseuses" is also slang for testicles.
I hope that gives you some idea of the brilliance and complexity of this film. It is extremely well-acted by all participants, with beautiful cinematography and an excellent soundtrack (did I mention that?). I don't know if you will enjoy this film, if you haven't seen any Blier films before, you might want to watch the rather less disturbing "Tenue de Soiree" ("Menage") first, but you will not forget it.