Les Chinois à Paris

The idea is brilliant (its the 70s and communist China invades capitalist France!), its cinematic application though occasionally walks with a limp.

Made in a time when being on the radical left and calling yourself "Maoist" was still a must, Jean Yanne paints an unflattering caricature of Parisians, utterly shallow in their political convictions, cynical, opportunistic, slavish and flabby pleasure-seekers. There is of course the obvious parallel with the Vichy regime who collaborated with the Nazis in WWII, which provides a dramatic undertow to an otherwise light-hearted satire. Both past and present are cleverly lampooned, unfortunately not so much the future (apart from the fact that the Chinese occupiers prefer to make a shopping mall their headquarters instead of one of the historical monumental buildings offered to them). I don't think the film-makers could even imagine the stealthy ways with wich China would eventually (and essentially) dominate the world economically by 2021. The movie wants to be more of a mirror for post-war France.

Technically it has quite a few pace issues, many scenes drag on needlessly with sloth-speed long take shots. The acting is not always good, especially by the young Japanese actor who plays the central role of Chinese general Pou-Yen. I read somewhere that the only ones that got upset with the film were the Chinese living in France (they should be the last to be upset). And the French were generally apathetic to it. Which justifies Jean Yanne's portrayal of them.