Film No. 57. MR BLAKE AT YOUR SERVICE (COMPLETEMENT CRAME) (2024). 24th Aug.

 

Film No. 56 (2024) August 24th.  10:30 AM  LUNA CINEMA, Cinema 2,  Leederville.

"What kind of butler are you Mr Blake?" (Asks Madame Beauvillier of her newly found "breath of fresh air").

NOMINEE: Official Selection (Gilles Legardinier) Sonoma Int. FF.

What's better on a cold, wet afternoon, than an earnest French morality tale designed and performed exquisitely? COMPLETEMENT CRAME will certainly warm your cockles on all fronts.

Lovers of French cinema know all about these concocted, cliché ridden comedies. The writing cajoles audiences to care for every character. As with the tropes of a good sports movie, where a coach picks up a team of lame ducks, leading them to the promised land; John Malkovich's Andrew Blake becomes the sounding board, then the voice of reason, for the troubled staff of manor house de Beauvillier. The story is silly. The performances, the setting, and the design are anything but. Exquisite French fare indeed!

Malkovich and Fanny Ardent give first time feature writer/director Gilles Legardinier an armchair ride here. His script is light and a smidge "wet" but in the hands of acting royalty, he must surely have been pinching himself! 9GUMS.