Vent de panique

Don't get fooled by the very low -and totally unfair-rating."Vent De Panique" is a very good French comedy played by two earnest thespians Bernard Giraudeau and Caroline Cellier.Plus good supporting parts by Olivia Brunaux,Jean-Pierre Kalfon,Jean François Stevenin and Robert Manuel.

Roland Pochon and his partner Martine were once TV stars.But they had to move into another occupation :swindling.They kidnap young Isabelle,under pretext of doing baby-sitting (!);they intend to sell her to gangsters but they change their mind and it's the beginning of incredible adventures ,for the "victim" is really the pain in the neck.

Wriiten (notably) by Claude Miller,using Verdi's "Traviata" in its soundtrack,"Vent De Panique" should not be taken seriously ,but it's really entertaining!Second effort by Bernard Stora whose movies ("Le Jeune Marié" "Consentement Mutuel" ) ,although interesting ,did not meet any success.

A picaresque tale set in France of the time, recounting the exploits of a couple of endearing confidence tricksters, always on the move without home or jobs, and a young girl they recruit.

Following the conventions of the genre, rogues remain rogues and their life is a hectic series of unconnected episodes in which they survive by their wits, each time just escaping retribution. Though Roland and Martine may bicker, and it is unclear how often they share a bed, in the end they always back each other up and manage to make a last-minute getaway, often in an expensive stolen car.

Their long-lasting relationship comes under strain when they are acquire Isabelle, an uninhibited teenager. While on the one hand she evokes parental feelings in the childless couple, on the other she arouses lust in Roland and jealousy in Martine. Despite the tensions that arise, the three prefer to be together and to enjoy their total freedom.

In ways reminiscent of "L'effrontée", and also of "La petite voleuse" and " Le sourire", the world of the film is not far from that of Claude Miller, who contributed to its scenario and direction. While Stora did not win an audience for his cinema work, surviving only in television, you will enjoy the adventures of his unlikely trio.

This movie strikes at first as very cheap, yet at the same time seems to have had a decent budget. The filming is decent, the actors aren't bad. The humour in it didn't reach me (or rather I wasn't able to find what it was generally supposed to be). The most annoying thing though, in my opinion, and the reason why I gave it a quite weak mark, is that every aspect is completely inconclusive. May it be sexual frustration/freedom, teenage rebelliousness, self deception, etc. All the elements which we can find in the sub-plots of this movie (which I won't elaborate here), are absolutely inconclusive. It's like being given a plate that smells like the meal you ordered in a restaurant. You don't really want just the smell - you want to taste the food as well. Here, are the elements lead up to something (and though you might not expect much, you expect something) except nothing really happens. Every follow-up even leaves you with somewhat of a question mark on your face. It had everything to be a decent movie (though it might not be good enough for a remake), except every good idea only put it's toes in the water. That's my opinion anyways.