Potiche

Potiche pretends to be silly and lighthearted while being rife with undercurrents that threaten to provide deeper meaning to the story. This is colorful and goofy with acting that approaches broad, then withdraws at the verge as if to regard whether the audience is paying attention. At the lead is Catherine Deneuve (Suzanne), who skillfully plays a smart character that has become accustomed to playing dumb all her life. `Potiche' refers to the trophy wife that she has become, married to a ignorant and arrogant man (Robert) who rules an umbrella factory as his own private fiefdom. The factory was built and run for years by Suzanne's father, but he seems to think it was his creation all along. The workers at the umbrella factory strike, Robert storms the protest to give them a good verbal lashing and is taken hostage. Suzanne is left to negotiate as the head of the factory in his absence with the help of Maurice (Gerard Depardieu), the socialist mayor. While styled as a quick-witted farce, Potiche is filled with conflicting passions. The socialists and capitalists are at each others' throats, men and women battle for financial supremacy (always thinly veiled sexual warfare), and numerous themes regarding globalization, sexual liberation, and gender roles play a supporting part. First and foremost, it is a comedy, and it is a sharp one at that.

Suzanne is the very picture of still waters, though she is none too deep throughout Potiche. She writes simple and silly poems, jogs, and ignores her husband's clumsy infidelities. She is not stupid, however, just bored. Her husband does not have her fooled, for example, since she just prefers to let other women service the idiot with whom she shares the house. This is where Deneuve shows why she is one of the greatest of actresses her arc is a practical one, and when given power she runs with it, and it never feels like a false one imbued with informed attributes. Her children do not seem to recognize her abilities, openly mocking her with their assumptions of her simplicity. He daughter Joelle remarks "I do not want to end up like you", with no malice intended. Well, Suzanne just has nothing better to do at the moment. When the strike occurs, she eventually becomes an effective negotiator after considerable trial and error. Maurice is on hand to lend his support, though mostly out of affection for Suzanne, as they shared love once. Robert is thick from start to finish, never accepting the notion that his wife could actually run the factory effectively, though he is correct that she would be incapable of his ruthlessness.

While this sounds like a 9 to 5 remake (sans the awesome douchebaggery of Dabney Coleman), Francois Ozon is careful to maintain a tone of breezy silliness. Make no mistake, there is an iron grip on the production, and the tale is meticulously crafted while appearing to take nothing about itself seriously. Potiche is deeply derisive about traditional gender roles, mocks capitalism as only a Frenchman can, and is free to drop acidic dialogue whenever possible. Suzanne is a demure housewife, but this mold is hilariously broken as we get to know her more closely. As the flashbacks begin to pile up with her copulations, and she starts to forget just who she was servicing at any one time, it becomes a joke in itself. The most traditional woman is her daughter Joelle, who is herself a parody of virulently conservative radical women who feel women belong in the home and men belong in the office, holding a bullwhip to use on cheeky employees as often as possible. Robert is a traditional man, and inherits the factory but acts as though he built it. This is a sly play on free market conservatives who are confused by the notion that there is more to success than work. He has his fun with the secretary (who hates him anyway), but Suzanne could not give a toss, her own infidelities committed out of joie de vivre rather than something as insipid as revenge.

The film is set in the 1970s amidst a time of economic turmoil, though the subject of globalization (Joelle proposes moving the factory to North Africa) renders the period moot. The issues involved in Potiche are timeless, and perhaps one of the points to be made would be that one must always be adaptable, if not always capable. Suzanne is as egalitarian in her political and fiscal leanings as her sexual conquests, while Maurice appears to be running out of steam. He changes little throughout the film, and it is suggested that perhaps one's political bent should be either flexible or it had better be disposable.

This is a busy film, and one gets the impression that Francois Ozon is constantly messing with you. I appreciate that sentiment, as his best films (Swimming Pool, 5×2) struggle mightily to move the goalposts and deny the audience a comfortable seat. In this, I likely missed some important themes and clever jokes that slid by me, as I was captivated by the enormous sense of humor at the core of Potiche. That, and the flawless and immensely relaxed performances by Deneuve and Depardieu, who inhabit their characters and make acting look easy.

I am already a fan of Francois Ozon, so I expected I would like this film, and indeed I did. Ozon has a very light touch, and although he also makes serious films, I see him as a master of comedy. Throughout his works I can see the influence, visually and in terms of humour, of Pedro Almodovar and the later-phase John Waters. Like Almodovar, Ozon's sets are always impeccably and artistically done, with a fantastic sense of color and good taste. The actors are well-cast and well-utilized in their roles; I especially enjoyed Deneuve, whose portrayal makes use of that light touch that she and Ozon seem to have in common. The look of the "Potiche" is often similar to that of Ozon's comedy "8 Women" that also features fabulously extravagant interiors.

Besides Deneuve--Gerard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karen Viard, Judith Godreche, and Jeremie Renier are standouts as well. The excellent score is done in a style reminiscent of 1970's sitcoms, although not specifically in the American sense. As Madame Pujol's son Laurent, Jeremie Renier is a strangely effeminate supposedly straight guy; it's as if Ozon had him portray the role in this way to play up yet another campy aspect of the film. I found end of the picture to be quite moving, as Madame Pujol finally achieves her ultimate liberation and expresses her love and support for the community she has always been a part of. The final scene features Madame Pujol singing, 'C'est Beau La Vie"; at this point, she seems to be Catherine Deneuve as much as she is her character; but it doesn't matter, and the entire effect brought tears to my eyes. Ozon has a way of making comedies that initially seems superficial and silly, but by the end of the film one becomes aware of a sub-textual rigour as well.

The DVD also includes the 1 hour and 11 minute "Making of Potiche" that provides insight into Ozon's working methods, who appears to be even-tempered and generally smiling. The actors also seem to be enjoying themselves on the set. This documentary also gives one hints of the various actors' off-screen personalities; Depardieu is constantly "on" and making jokes, almost to the point of being obnoxious; Karen Viard complains the glasses that "uglify" her in her role as Nadege, the sexy secretary; Jeremy Renier often looks uncomfortable, although trying to hide this with good humour; the rest of the cast remains relatively low-key.

Stephen C. Bird, Author of "Hideous Exuberance"

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A very enjoyable story in the retrostyle, very well acted by an outstanding cast. It even manages to keep you guessing as to the outcome.

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Denueve as an umbrella factory heiress leads to some charming echoes of one of her earliest (and one of my favorite) films, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but that charm is wasted on a film that feels more like a sketch or outline than a fully developed story. The characters are flat and the movie just sort of rolls along through the plot points without ever giving the audience a reason to care.

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This has been compared to `Made in Dagenham', but I think this is actually much better and whilst they both deal with female empowerment, this one just oozes style. It stars Catherine Deneuve as Suzanne Pujol, who is the trophy wife of Robert. He married her and got her fathers umbrella factory as a dowry, employing three hundred workers. He then became a misogynistic stereo type of the bullying kind that epitomised the early seventies.

His negative attitude spills over to industrial relations and sets him on a collision course with the unions at his factory. They do a wild cat strike, he intervenes and after much wrangling he is released. This is done with the aid of the Communist Mayor, one Maurice Babin (Gerard Depardieu). All of the attention, and it must be said womanising finally catches up with Robert and he has a collapse. In the power vacuum that ensues, Suzanne steps in and takes over.

Set in 1977, there are some great period details, despite IMDB claiming a couple of gaffs like using a song from Bacarra that was not out until 1978, not really a deal breaker. It is beautifully filmed and directed by François Ozon (`Swimming Pool' and `8 women'). We soon discover that Suzanne is a `woman with a past' which makes up for her dumb blond performance at the beginning. This `past' includes the Mayor Maurice. I must say that there is genuine on screen chemistry between Deneuve and Depardieu, but he always seems to be able to pull it off (no pun intended).

There are also sub plots involving the children, a sideways dive into politics and some good comic asides. This though is not a full on comedy, it is a warm gentle film, with a feel good factor that sweeps you along. All of the performances are top notch especially from Fabrice Luchini who plays Robert. He is sexist, manipulating, a bully and yet I could not help but find him absolutely genuine and quite funny.

It has the perfect run time of an hour and a half, and some great musical asides too, but to say anymore may be a plot spoiler. I saw the trailer for this and decided I would not rush to see it, but this is one of those rare exceptions where the film is miles better than the trailer even hinted at, very nearly five stars, highly recommended, cest une triomphe!

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