Le don d'Adèle

Emile Couzinet was the owner of several movie theaters in the south west of France ..He had an idea which was (and to this day remained) unique:he made his own movies which were shown in his theaters .He did not give a damn about what Parisian critics thought.The only man of the French cinema who was a writer,a director,a producer ,a film distributor, a cinema owner and manager;he had his own studios and ,like Ed Wood in America ,he often used the same actors .

The gift of the title (Adele's gift) is sometimes used in modern thrillers to prevent crimes or to arrest serial killers:second sight. A farm girl,Adele 's gift went against her:accused of bringing bad luck,she is almost excommunicated by the local priest.She takes refuge in a bourgeois home where the missus wears the pants (or trousers) :Adele's gift may help her exploit her property in Egypt (?). It also allows her to discover what her hubby and her children do when they are away.

Based on a play,it roughly features three parts ,the second of which,consisting of music hall acts is mostly filler.In the third part ,Adele loses her precious gift because she took a bit of the apple with the Young man of means (compare with the equally silly "Pas De Femmes" in the thirties)

So ,what have we learnt after watching that?

1)The Man must be the head of the family.

2) Don't do things with too wealthy neighbors :they might be crooked;do move in fashionable circles.

3)Don't have sex before being married ;you might lose more than you'll ever know.

4)If you become a fortune-teller,do say people what they want to hear:they will be very grateful .

Emile Couzinet had one thing in common with Claude Chabrol:gastronomy , here the family has kidneys Madeira sauce and "Negre En chemise " (chocolate and cream dessert).