Tu m'as sauvé la vie

Sacha Guitry had five wives in total but he had no children."Tu M'As Sauvé La Vie" makes the viewer wonder whether he regretted that .The central character(played by himself) wants to adopt a man (Fernandel) who saved his life as he was about to be run over by a cart (drawn by one or two horses ,they do not agree).

Although this is a comedy ,the atmosphere is rather harsh :the wealthy baron who feels that death is approaching (one of the permanent features of Guitry's last decade)knows that all the people around from the servants to the countess (Jeanne Fusier-Gir) to the nurse are eagerly waiting for his death (the servants have a long discussion about his last wishes ).And the baron himself has these cynical lines ("the poor are a drag:first ,they are starving ,second they take the edge off your appetite!") That said ,considering that Guitry's final decade produced some of his best ("La Vie D'Un Honnête Homme" "La Poison" "Si Versailles/Paris M'Etait Conté" "Assassins Et Voleurs" ) ,"Tu M'as Sauvé La Vie remains a minor film ,too much filmed stage production style for its own good.

Granted that Sacha Guitry mostly excels at sharpening good dialogue and directing fine actors -Tu m'as sauvé la vie- is not a movie, barely a filmed stage play. So if you're looking for more distinctive movie-making skills you're in for a major delusion, but if you'd be content with high-flying "mots d'auteur" and sarcastic humor then you can enjoy the show.

As for me it was enough to laugh my way through the end even though the static nature of the staged story gets in the way when dialogue stops flowing. What might have helped here is that Guitry plays the lead but has to share top billing with the more popular Fernandel so the auteur can show off but has no spare room for self-consciousness.