...you can do worse than watch this intriguing film.
The story only lasts six hours but do not panic:it's not a six-hour flick!A tour de force Alex Joffé will pull off in his 1957 film "les Fanatiques" everything happens in real time like in Wise's "set-up" and later in Varda's "Cleo De Cinq à Sept".
A traveler gets out of his train and in the station,he is mistaken for an ambassador.We know nothing about him,not even his name.Some of his lines might make us think he's got no family.All we know is that he's got six hours to waste,between two trains.
His chauffeur drives him to his desirable mansion where everything seems to go wrong.He's been away for five years,but it's a bit unlikely that his whole family welcomes him as their husband/father/master.
His missus is sour-tempered,his daughter (Dany Robin) is in a love with a shady pianist while her brothers are fighting for the musician's sister (they are actually husband and wife and crooks at that).His chamber maid (Paulette Dubost) cheats on her hubby (the butler) with a gendarme.
The "new" ambassador will be the providential guardian angel and succeed in settling all the problems of the house.And he and his "wife" celebrate their silver wedding while a telegram signals that the true "His Excellency" is about to arrive in half an hour. "Wait for me,I'll be back soon" the stranger says before leaving.
Two sinister-looking men are loitering around....What was a comedy with now and then bitter touches will turn into a tragedy....
The ending will take you by surprise and gives the movie an eerie final.Definitely worth watching.
