"Tenue de Soirée" was a project that germinated after more than ten years of dormancy in Bertrand Blier's mind. His breakthrough "Les Valseuses" starring Gérard Depardieu, Patrick Deweare and Miou-Miou in a most peculiar 'menage à trois' broke several grounds of sexual representation in France and its commercial success encouraged him to make not a sequel but a companion piece with the same actors. Having noticed the naughty playfulness of buddies Gérard and Patrick, he asked them if they were game for a movie where they would be homosexuals. They were.
Unfortunately, Dewaere who had more than one demon to overcome left cinema in 1982 and so "Tenue de Soirée" feature two thirds of the trio, Yet the addition of Michel Blanc is a masterstroke of replacement for something in Dewaere's physicality would have made difficult to exude the sad vulnerability of Blanc. Indeed the diminutive bald mustachioed man, since his early success with the 'Splendid Troop"; got almost typecast as lovable nobodies for which his Jean-Claude Dusse was the flag bearer.
But if Blier could make sensitive souls out of killers like in "Buffet Froid" surely poor schmucks like Antoine would be treated with more respect. And so we're in a little old-fashioned party hall, a band starts playing and obviously Monique (Miou-Miou) was waiting for the music to be loud enough to cover quite an ego-crushing "reasons you suck" speech to her husband. She's tired of leaving a miserable life with a loser, she wants the fairy tale, a house and despises a man who can't be a provider... a submissive Antoine looks as he's twice grieving the relationship and a certain ideal of masculinity he will never belong to.
But then something happens, her nagging is cut short by a violent slap from Bob (Gérard Depardieu) who had eavesdropped the whole monologue. Today, such a scene would pass as misogynistic and earn a film torrents of protests against what seems to be endorsement of men's brutality ... but that would be a false trial. According to Blier, film that was a huge commercial success (with its infamous tag-line) didn't create much turmoil and met with a very warm welcome from the gay press in the 80s and no cries whatsoever from feminists. So why such a brutal moment was relevant in the film's context? Is Bob giving Monique a taste of her own medicine, reminding her the kind of action an alpha male is capable to?
I have another theory. Watching Antoine being castrated alive because he doesn't have the makings of a man's man, he doesn't just slap her but buys her silence with more money than she ever got from Antoine. I often fantasized of being rich enough to throw as many bills to my partner so she could stop whining, it's a totally infantile mindset but it's got a point: every man has a breaking point, it's possible that every woman's got a price where you can buy the right to be a prick if you're rich enough to fulfill her demands. I'm not inserting these thoughts on Blier but I'm positively surprised that a film could materialize in one scene an obsessive question.
And when Antoine retaliates and threatens to knife Bob, Bob shows his torso and dares him to act... before telling him to sit down and give him money as well. Bob isn't a troll, much less a macho, he's a quirky human being who took an instant liking on Antoine as a man, and as a woman behind the man. What does Bob do for a living? He's a professional burglar... Blier always had a fondness for marginals and outlaws...and I suspect it's because there's much more potential for betrayals and dirty tricks to spice up a plot. But again, Depardieu is the flamboyant, poetic and exuberant yin to Antoine's passive and sensitive yang. In fact, he's such a larger-than-life character that he encompasses both Antoine and Monique's needs.
Monique finds in Bob the role she wanted Antoine to play. Each man couldn't satisfy her alone alone but the two formed the right male ideal. But to keep Monique, Antoine must surrender to Bob's pleas and sacrifice his pride. It's my ass, he says, rightfully so... but you've got to love the totally unforced and almost smooth way Antoine finally lets thing go. In any clunky screenplay, like the horrendous "French Twist", Antoine would have immediately switched to bisexuality but Blier is a more nuanced filmmaker and his way with words proves again to be effective, even more through the maestria of Depardieu.
Bob delivers what might be one of most tender declarations. Wishing to turn Antoine's shame to happiness, asking him if he hasn't ever dreamed of snuggling up in a sturdy body. Antoine's moved reaction is the first awakening of his feminine side. Has Monique ever been that nice to him? And so Bob commits the greatest burglary of his life... one the film doesn't linger on but doesn't sugarcoat either. Unlike the "Birdcage", the film doesn't turn homosexuality into derision but into a a certain idea that life is so tough for men that their tragedy is that they can't be womanly enough to hide their fears or insecurities with a stronger figure. In one of the film's most inspired scenes, after a brief disappearance of Monique tired of being treated like a maid, it's Antoine's turn to be the nagging one, complaining to a Bob who doesn't take care of him.
Far ahead of its time, "Tenue de Soirée" is the study of a certain need for domination and affection that transcends the gender barriers, how roles can easily be switched if opportunity knocked, maybe all men secretly wishes that... there's something irreverential, disturbing, but so truthful that even the final scenes doesn't feel like a cheap shot at laughs, but a logical conclusion with three people who found some balance and three actors with terrific chemistry... paraphrasing its tagline, truly a freakin' film!
