Le majordome

This bizarre little piece begins so well but sadly fails to fulfil its early promise. By degrees it all becomes rather infantile and eventually gives us a very uneasy mixture of Comedy and dead bodies.

The only reason for sitting it out is to enjoy the immaculate artistry of Paul Meurisse as the title character. He is ably supported however by Genevieve Page who oozes class and Noel Roquevert who is always good value. I have never been entirely convinced by Paul Hubschmid and his performance here does nothing to alter my view.

Director Jean Delannoy made his first feature in 1938 and his last in 1990. I admire his work enormously and there are at least a dozen of his films that I would recommend without hesitation. Suffice to say, this is not one of them.