Peculiar man spies jealously on beautiful wife. That's the plot, enough to power a five-minute Benny Hill sketch, but this is it for the rest of the film.
Darry Cowl was a well-known musician-comedian. He wrote the script in a month, motivated by the need to recoup gambling debts, and he fills the film with his actor friends, who are clearly friends indeed. Obviously the real-life Cowl had more charm than Henri.
So anyway Henri's wife Sophie (Cowl's soon-to-be real life wife Rolande Kalis) is capable and bored. Their domestic bliss is expressed rather touchingly in their pancake-tossing games. But he will not let her have a job as he observes her attracting all the men around her. However she gets a job for his boss. He tries to get her sacked. He smears oil on the boss's face, plays a tennis game in which he serves a variety of objects other than the ball, puts on a variety of costumes, etc.
Dani Saval does a spirited turn. She appears to be madder than Cowl. I'm afraid I lost track of why she is there.
The film continues at screwball pace with visual jokes, surreal behaviour and quirky music. I guess if you keep watching it's because it's hit and miss and the odd idea might tickle your imagination.
Five minutes of highlights is about right. Sophie's attempts to play the tuba would be right in there (her whackiness is funnier because she looks like the sensible one, there's a lesson there). Maybe the flashback of them getting married. Maybe the scene about buying the cheapest ring. Their attempts to get him down from the tree. Denise Provence as Mme Lurot at the end. There you go, seven or eight minutes.
