Ein Affe im Winter

Its lead virtue is to be more than a good comedy. a film about life. and its choices. about two men, in Tigreville. and about the result of that meeting who could change everything. a film about decisions, past strangers and...Spain. nothing new, but all useful in deep sense. because it is a simple film. about simple people. and about the fundamental meanings of existence. and sure, a fine motif for see it remains the presence of Gabin and Belmondo and their almost total seductive performances.

A monkey in winter... en française, un singe en hiver. Stars jean gabin and suzanne flon as the quentins. They own an inn en tigreville,françe, during world war two. Which is occupied by deutsche soldaten. And gets bombed on a regular basis. Just like albert, the owner.. he's getting bombed on a regular basis. Which his wife doesn't like at all. So one day he makes his wife a promise: if they make it through the war, he'll not drink another drop. But when gabriel, a loud, drunk from madrid, stays at the inn, albert joins him on a drinking binge, and they go to visit gabriel's daughter at the local school. And they cause a commotion all over town. But all grand adventures must end. It's pretty good. Fun to see some of the world war two history and locations on the north coast of françe, all these years later. And that was in 1962. Directed by henri verneuil. He was nominated for the sheep. I really liked his film "burglars" from 1971.

I have read a recent interview with Belmondo, saying that the veteran Jean Gabin hate all that new wave french cinema when he was asked to do this movie with young Belmondo, who was, at that time, an actor who was working with the New Wave directors (Godard, Chabrol, Truffaut). But a solid friendship was born when the two men work together on that movie. In fact, the respect and this friendship seems to be very easy to see when we look at this charming movie. It's full of a sense of poetry. It's a movie about friendship, dreams, nostalgia, sadness between two men from different generations. It's also a movie about alcool, in a sense that the beatniks of that era refers to. It's also very well written. Gabin and Belmondo gives a very warm performance. You must see this wonderful movie.

What could I add more besides everything that has already been told? That's the only picture between Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Gabin. Unfortunately. it was at this time the new generation vs the old one. You will have nearly the same scheme in 2009, with LE VIEIL HOMME ET SON CHIEN, where this time Belmondo will have a short sequence - too short for my own taste - with Jean Dujardin; Belmondo had this time the same position Gabin had with him more than forty five years earlier.

This movie: UN SINGE EN HIVER, is not only a film about drunk people and loneliness, absolutely not, but about the true meaning of life and friendship. And in this film, Jean Gabin plays a old sailor character, the nearly same he will have nine years later in LE DRAPEAU NOIR FLOTTE SUR LA MARMITE, a poignant movie too, even being a comedy written by Michel Audiard.

Un Singe en Hiver is famous for bringing together the France of the first half of the Century, symbolised by its greatest actor, Jean Gabin, and the greatest actor of the second half of the century, Jean Paul Belmondo. It not only brought them together but it created magic on the screen. The chemistry between Gabin and the kid Belmondo is incredible and carries this wonderful, yet simplistic, scenario to perfection.

The movie respects all three Greek units of creation, unity of action (it is the story of a man coming to get his daughter back, who incidentally meets an old man who looks a lot like the man he could become), unity of place, the whole movie takes place in the coastal town of Tigreville, Normandie, and unity of time, the whole movie takes places over 3 or 4 days.

The movie, written by legendary screenwriter Audiard, offers some of the best dialogues ever written for the big screen, it is at the same time a drama and a comedy. It is very much a French movie where, in essence, nothing happens, but a lot is actually being told. Every word carries its weight, every sentence unveils more about the story or the past of the two central characters played by Gabin and Belmondo.

Few movies can equally make you laugh, touch you and inspire you like Henry Vernieul's movie does. It is a story about good men who sometimes need to live a little and entertain themselves, enjoy life and dream a little.

It is unlikely we will ever get a movie like this again, it a jewel to treasure for the end of times.