Thirst for Gold

From the sixties to the seventies, Gérard Oury's movies, starring either Bourvil or Louis de Funès, or both, made scores that are still impressive by today's standards. His 1966 classic "The Great Stroll" remained the most successful French movie until it was dethroned by "Welcome to the Ch'tis" in 2008.

But during the 90s, the box office king had obviously lost his touch. His "Thirst for Gold" was released the same year than a certain movie named "The Visitors" and attracted one tenth the viewers. However, both films confirmed one truth: Christian Clavier was becoming a king of comedy himself. Fans called him his successor, detractors a poor man's or a wannabe De Funès but that doesn't matter since even a man with half the comedic talent of 'Fufu' would be able to generate hilarity, and Clavier had something in him that confined to genius even when the material wasn't first rate (and to be fair, even De Funès elevated some B-movies with lousy plots to the level of enjoyability).

In this film, Clavier plays a millionnaire named Urbain Donnadieu (literally "gives to God") he's a greedy schmuck, in the great tradition of Molière's "Miser". a personality trait that can work as a great source of gags. In my review of Jean Girault "Miser", adapted from Molière's famous play and starring De Funès as Harpagon, I noted that greed, as detestable as it is, is yet an endearing trait because of its infantile implication; like a child, a greedy man sticks to his money and possession at the expenses of his own pride, fearing a loss of money more than ridicule. The characterization of Clavier works because while he's ridicule, he has his reasons, and the trick is to be able to pity and understand him.

And one of the things the film gets right is the long sequence where he chases a bill of 500 francs across Paris. The bill, flying more frantically than Forrest Gump's feather, has the irritating habit to wait till his hand comes at reach before flying again until it finally lands on the relic of a dog's digestion. Needless to say that this didn't stop Urbain. There's more than comedy in that scene (and it is a funny scene) there's the firm certitude that this man would stop at no cost to save and protect his money, except if the cost is higher than the stakes of course. He might be a two-dimensional character but he's consistent.

What works too is that he's seconded by his grandmother, played by Tsilla Chelton is equally despicable and convincing because her Tatie Danielle was so obnoxious I could see her as a continuation of her former persona. Sure subtlety isn't the film's strongest suit but this is a fast-paced comedy that needs to establish its characters and their motives in the right timing. And so we have the so-called friend played by Philippe Korshand having an affair with Urbain's wife by Catherine Jacob who specialized in playing uptight girl scouts. She was her tax controller and to cover up for his frauds, she accepted to marry him and have a share of his fortune, after three years, she outlived her usefulness since the Law can't sue him. Naturally, she wants her revenge. Yes, this is a gallery of characters who are all candidates for unpleasantness but Oury has a way to deal with them, they're either laughable or admirable.

Indeed, there comes a point where you stop looking at Urbain as a clown. I admired his scheme to smuggle one thousand of gold bars from France to Switzerland by hiding each one of them in a brick, contributing to the most valuable mobile home to ever be exported. That was the trickiest part of the plot because we had to believe in the plan and seriously it was such a masterstroke of ingenuousness I almost rooted for Urbain. And yes I could buy that even the most meticulous and zealous customs officer would miss them. It's not a detail because to make the cat-and-mouse chase entertaining and full of twists, we got to have the villains with a few chances to enter the house and look for the money. So the hiding place is clever and inspires some funny situations, now all is left for the film is to make the 'main course', the sixty minutes of chase worth watching and on that the film is a mixed bag.

Gerard Oury who had directed the most successful films of French cinema and never minded the accusation of being commercial, knew how to mix comedy and action, moral fables with slapstick and the film features a great deal of chases and explosions not too overused but betraying a lack of genuine inspiration. There's also a little romantic subplot whose purpose is to show that there's more than money in Urbain's world, but the love interest played Marine Delterme is a follower who never really finds a place within that quartet of loony gold diggers (and gold hiders).

Some pompous critics will deem it as a wannabe De Funès in a film made by a worn-out Oury or by Clavier succumbing to his own thirst for gold, but I won't deny my pleasure. the film gets many things right despite a few lousy gags, four good protagonists, an interesting premise, a short running time and a satisfying ending. I knew I shouldn't expect a happy ending because the nature of movies about flawed characters is to have an Aesop: the bad guys couldn't win but neither could the good guys and I just love the throwaway ending and the epilogue was so random and funny that it might have earned a few extra points.