Pleasure Party

The Story of a Despicable Sick Man In the countryside of France, the housewife Esther (Danièle Gégauff) and Philippe (Paul Gégauff) have been living together for more than eight years with a daughter, Elise (Clémence Gégauff). Philippe is an egocentric and self-righteous man and tells his wife that he has cheated her six times. She admits that she has never had a love affair, and he asks her to have sex with one of his friends. Esther meets the intelligent Habib (Giancarlo Sisti) during a dinner party at home and they have an affair. Philippe continues to sleep with Esther's friends, but soon he becomes jealous of the successive encounters of Esther with Habib. He humiliates her harder than usual, saying that she is stupid and belongs to a lower class. They move to Paris, and Esther changes her submissive behavior, working for Habib. She splits from Philippe, and he marries their friend Sylvia (Paula Moore), who is a wealthy and independent woman. But soon he misses her dependence on him and their story ends in a tragedy.

"Une partie de plaisir", a.k.a. "Pleasure Party" (1975), is an unpleasant film by Claude Chabrol with the story of a despicable sick man. The humiliations of Esther are heartbreaking since she has a daughter and financially depends on Phillippe. The guy is one of the most obnoxious characters of serious films and what he does to Esther in the end of the story is repugnant. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Festa do Prazer" ("Pleasure Party")

Although from his great mid-period of domestic murder mysteries, UNE PARTIE DE PLAISIR is closer to Chabrol's later L'ENFER in its study of repressive, destructive male egotism. This virtually plotless film is almost impossible to watch, as we follow an unappealing, 'cultivated', bully humiliate and grind down his lover. His dictating of her life and sexual activity is a sublimation of his flagging power as he reaches middle-aged impotence. Engimatic treatment of class and professional status too.

Very much like Varda's LE BONHEUR, as a real-life couple in charming pastoral settings set to civilised classical music play out nasty fable. Whether the story turns into a Bressonian study of redemption is unclear.

In the cinema of Claude Chabrol the bourgeoisie are distinctly lacking in charm, discreet or otherwise and none more so than Phillipe and Esther, the well-to-do couple at the centre of UNE PARTIE DE PLAISIR, who, at Phillipe's insistence, decide to have an open marriage but when Esther looks like she's falling for the first guy she sleeps with, Phillipe gets very jealous indeed.

The territory is, of course, typically Chabrolian but what makes this movie interesting as well as creepy and finally very unpleasant is that it would appear to explore the disintegrating marriage of its stars Paul Gegauff and Daniele Gegauff. Paul wrote the film in what appears to be a kind of exorcism though neither 'actor' rises above the one-dimensional. Nevertheless, Chabrol definitely embraces them treating them with more respect than either of them deserves. It may fit perfectly into Chabrol's world view of things but it's still a pretty hateful movie.

This study of a violent, narcissistic, bully and his relationships would be creepy enough on its own, but the nagging feeling that the main characters are all actually playing thinly veiled versions of themselves makes the skin crawl that much more. We can start with the title: 'partie de plaisir' is an idiom for something enjoyable and easily accomplished--a piece of cake--which ranks this with Haneke's 'Funny Games' and 'Happy End' on scale of ironic titles. Paul Gégauff, also credited with the screenplay, one of many he wrote for a who's who of the nouvelle vague, plays Philippe, the protagonist. Danièle Gégauff, his ex-wife when the film was shot, plays Esther, the enigmatic woman on the receiving end of his humiliation and violence. Their daughter plays Élise, their daughter. Much like the films of Maurice Pialat (A nos amours), we're not always sure who's acting and who's just acting out. And perhaps most amazingly, as we watch in horror, most of Paul's circle of friends just laugh it all off and ask for another glass of the '61 Margaux. Like the proverbial car wreck, you can't look and you can't look away.

Phew! Well, this is certainly no bundle of fun. What an ugly film, was my first thought as I stared at the closing credits. As a seasoned film fan, one is always put on guard when a male lead tells his partner that she should experiment with sleeping with other people. He would not be jealous - oh yea! But here things go from bad to really awful and as someone else has noted it is almost inconceivable that one would be likely to choose to revisit this little number. Having said all that, to discover than long time Chabrol script writer, Paul Gegauff, not only wrote this nasty piece but plays the male lead in question. Not only that but his real life wife plays the appallingly treated partner AND that their actual daughter, plays their screen daughter, just about the only light relief this movie has. Hard to recommend to non Chabrol fans but certainly a powerful piece of cinema.