Femmina

In the heart of the swinging sixties, European flicks were just as funky and wild as American ones. In Femmina (or the French-titled La grande sauterelle), you'll see the exotic, partying locale of the Mediterranean riviera. It's a caper movie, and Hardy Kruger and his pal Georges Géret are planning to make one last big score by robbing a wealthy winner after he's made a killing in the casino. It's a bit of a silly plan, but does it matter? It's a silly movie, with an abundance of eye candy, swingin' parties, and go-go dancing.

Hardy is absolutely gorgeous in this movie. His blond locks, fiery blue eyes, "caught in the cookie jar" smile, and the best mouth in Hollywood are captured perfectly in Technicolor. And it's really cute to hear him speaking French in his signature slightly-slurred, slow drawl. In this movie, you'll see something you never get to see: Hardy Kruger in a sex scene (or two). They're actually really funny to watch, since Hardy keeps cracking up. Yes, the scenes get pretty steamy, but they're also full of giggles. It's not very likely that Hardy was putting careful consideration into his characterization. It's just not that kind of movie. Either he felt uncomfortable filming sex scenes, or he's just naturally a goofball. For him, it might have been natural to laugh in the bedroom, and is there anything cuter than that?

His love interest is the equally gorgeous Mireille Darc, and their relationship is so intense and casual, he never learns her name! He calls her "sauterelle" (which is "grasshopper" in French), and she's reckless, risky, and never lets anything bother her. And what a babe! It's like Keira Knightley went back in time to the 1960s and became French. I couldn't take my eyes off her, and it's no wonder Hardy couldn't either. With all the eye candy, this is a fun, frilly flick is a great date-night choice. If you're looking for serious cinema, though, look elsewhere.

With this movie that doesn't look like a George Lautner's film, I think that director George Lautner made some kind of transition between what he did before, I mean mostly comedies - except LE SEPTIEME JURE - and more serious crime action dramas. Just after this one, he will give us FLEUR D'OSEILLE and just after the terrififc LE PACHA. After the latest, he will nearly offer comedies, except LE PROFESSIONEL. So, this Lautner's rare film remains interesting, and the whole Lautner's "gang" is here (Mireille Darc, Michel Audiard, Maurice Biraud, George Geret, Francis Blanche....) Once more, four years after MELODIE EN SOUS SOL, Maurice Biraud is again involved in casino related heist; though here at a lesser scale. Useless to say that Mireille Drac literally steals the whole film, compared to the usually supporting characters Hardy Kruger, George Geret and Maurice Biraud. I think Darc was the Lautner's sweetheart in those days...

In a foreword by Georges Lautner, the director of the movie, he explains that he always alternated serious and comedy movies. La Grande Sauterelle is a follow up of Galia a drama which Lautner directed in 1966, the same year as an other comedy, "Ne nous fâchons pas". In 1967 he decided to return to more serious scenario and what makes the charm of the movie is the great sensitivity which surrounds the whole movie and the dialogs especially Francis Blanche which is playing a small part here. The crime aspect of the movie is not important. It's here to show how two very different human beings can suddenly become related to one another to the point to change the course of the life of one of them. Hardy Kruger and Mireille Darc are perfectly matched in the movie, not only because of their handsomeness but also because through their rather limited dialogs they are capable of transmitting to the viewer the emotions and thoughts of a whole generation at a moment when a profound change in the perception of life was going to happen or even was happening. Of course today younger generations cannot perceive what was at stake in those years and the film can only be fully appreciated by people who were reaching their adult life at that time, who were part of those changes. The film is also served by the great dialogs of Lautner's accomplice, Michel Audiard. Only fluent French speaking spectators can really appreciate the movie because those dialogs are untranslatable and no subtitles will ever succeed to give their flavor.

This film is very difficult to label. It's not really a crime comedy, nor really a romance. The criminal plot serves as a pretext to shoot the movie in Lebanon and on the green carpet of casinos, but is only a secondary element. Important moments are made up of human encounters, telescoping of different and picturesque personalities that nothing should bring together and yet ... In light and superficial airs, the film touches on very fundamental subjects: freedom, love and possession, the relationship to money... This film is filled with poetry and romantic moments and Mireille Darc is sublimely highlighted. The atmosphere and the characters are extremely endearing. I loved it!