Obviously, with a subject like this, we could only have the great Jean-Pierre Mocky. Jean Poiret, covered in scabs and dirty, pretends to be in a wheelchair to collect on an insurance policy, and wants to make believe by going to Lourdes that a miracle will make him walk. Michel Serrault, a mute insurance investigator who suspects the scam, follows him all the way to Lourdes. The supporting cast includes Jeanne Moreau as a nun who helps with everything and anything. And Abbé Humus, played by Marc Maury, whom the screenplay mishandles. Jean-Pierre Mocky takes the opportunity to show the commercial exploitation of the superstition of Lourdes. And a jubilant anticlericalism.
Jean-Pierre Mocky's bestiary is there for all to see: more or less amateur actors with faces no one would turn (except Bruno Dumont), gravelly sequences that are not at all politically correct and therefore indispensable. Jean-Pierre Mocky's films are often about butts and tits. And it all happens very quickly: there's so much going on, the viewer can't miss a single scene, almost all of which are anthologies. No time is wasted explaining, the editing is very fast and it works.
