A French farce, from François Ozon (Swimming Pool) starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu.
In 1977, in the small town of Sainte-Guenole, Suzanne Pujol (Deneuve) lives the life of a traditional housewife, doting on her grumpy husband, Robert (Fabrice Luchini), who spends his days running her family’s umbrella business into the ground. To her husband and her two grown children, Madame Pujol is a trophy housewife with no real power; in other words, une potiche. But when the workers of the umbrella factory go on strike all hell breaks loose. Robert suffers a heart attack and is ordered to take time off to recover, and Suzanne is left to run the company with the help of her former beau, the town mayor, Maurice Babin (Depardieu). At first, she is a laughing stock, but when she saves the faltering business and fosters the best working conditions in years, opinions quickly change. In fact, no one wants her husband to take back the reins once he’s recovered. But Mr. Pujol will not go down without a fight; using blackmail and forming secret alliances, he’s determined to win back his role as head of the company and head of his household.
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Eight years after the crowd-pleasing "8 Women" and a mostly impressive run of small-scale arthouse films, Francois Ozon effortlessly moves back to the mainstream with another sparkling, occasionally side-splitting adaptation of a French boulevard-theater play.
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Good fun, though, and the spectacle of Deneuve and the now-mountainous Depardieu disco-dancing shouldn’t be missed.
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You suspect, before long, that there is no strong reason for this production to exist, but it is reasonably good fun all the same.
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There's little effort at psychological depth, and the characters float along on the requirements of comedy. But it's sweet comedy, knowing about human nature, and Deneuve and Depardieu, who bring so much history to the screen, seem to create it by their very natures.
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Has plenty of contemporary sparkle and life, courtesy of a masterful central performance by grande dame Catherine Deneuve.
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Like a Gallic "Nine To Five," Ozon's comedy is a uniquely French skew on the gender politics of the home and the workplace. It's mostly funny, fast and fondly made although it drags a little towards the end.
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Funny, twisty, and sometimes bittersweet, Potiche is a fluffy good time, but not entirely insubstantial.
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