In my desire to discover more teen movies from 80's France after loving "La Boum", I stumbled upon "P'tit con" by Gérard Lauzier. It is quite different for many a reasons from the other teen movies of the era, reasons that also made me dislike it a little.
In order to understand this film, one must know who Gérard Lauzier was. Lauzier, a comic book author by profession, started his career as a director with this film, based on one of his comic strips, "Souvenirs d'un jeune homme" (Memories of a young man). In this strip, he presents a teenager, fed up with his life, who wants to get away from his conservative parents and become an adult. He believes that he can change society, and enjoys the company of his hippie mate. All this is presented in a derogatory way by the author, known for his liberal political opinions. It was so that in the film, the viewer was supposed to empathize with the parents, and criticize the son.
This is also evident in the plot, where we see the young Michel (Bernard Brieux), a believer of the ideas of May '68, complaining to his parents (the father is played by Guy Marchand, a then-popular singer and actor) about his insatisfaction with life, his will to grow up, his being depressed. In order to find meaning in his life, he goes to live with an Algerian girl, and,after returning, has to reconciliate his parents,who are facing divorce.
Speaking of the parents, they were a depiction of the classic French family. While the 80's was a period of change for France, many family films showed a classic, quite old-fashioned image of the family and its members. The wife often had the husband's name (In "La Boum", for instance, the parents are named Mr and Mrs Beretton), it is the wife that takes care of the home and the children, and the husband often leaves for business trips (See for this, "Paroles et musique"). While there are some parameters that have changed, for instance the entrance of women in the job market, French films of the 80's often bear resemblance to older ones when family representation is concerned.
When this film was released, socialist president François Mitterrand was already in power for three years. While some filmmakers and authors responded positively to his election, and made works featuring mostly left-leaning activists (see,for example, George Coulonge's books "Pause café", "Joëlle Mazart", "Pause café pause tendresse" about a social worker trying to help adolescents in a school ruled by a conservative principal, that became a series), others, including Lauzier, didn't support him and mocked him in their work. An example of this is the attitude of the heroes towards cinema. Mitterand's president of culture, Jack Lang, wanted to democratise cinema, and bring auteur films and other works considered high art to the broad public. Lauzier criticized this in the film by showing Michel's Algerian friend saying she only likes "Belmondo and Delon", them being two of the most commercial actors of the deacde in France. Common people can't understand culture, so why bother?
The worst element of the film, though, is that it presents almost every character as a caricature. The actin is solid, with both Brieux and Marchand giving satisfactory performances, but there is so little objective portrayal of the characters that one cannot feel anything for them. Even the parents, supposedly the ones we are supposed to root for, are only worth of sympathy and pity, not real praise, since they are shown to be nothing more than a stereotype of the superprotective family members most people have. Every character is mono-dimensional, having either wholly positive or completely negative traits, being either too conservative or too radical. No balance can be found.
Lauzier's direction didn't have anything special, but it was good enough to carry the film.
The music, though, was quite pleasing, since it was composed by the great Vladimir Cosma, whose scores graced such films as "La Boum", "La chèvre" and "Le père Noël est une ordure". Here, he indulges in his habit of reusing existent compositions, like "Maybe you're wrong" by Freddie Meyer, a song originally written for "La Boum 2". This element makes the film tolerable, at least in terms of music.
In conclusion, "P'tit con" is a film that may appeal to people sharing the same opinions as the director, but in my opinion it is not a representative example of the 80's teen movie, due to its lack of compassion for teenagers' problems, their political opinions, and their attitude towards family. It is a relic of another time, one between the radical 60's and 70's and the more progressive 90's. And for this, at least, it may be considered worth watching. I, though, was disappointed, but I have something to console me; the film is mostly forgotten, having not gained cult status. Probably even 80's France was too progressive for "P'tit con" . And for this, I'm relieved.
