morrison-dylan-fan Delving into French cinema of 1981,I decided to start investigating the more "obscure" offerings from the year. Getting to a page with hardly any reviews for French flicks from '81,I was happy to locate an off-beat sounding Drama with great IMDb reviews,which led to me finding out how strange this affair could get.The plot:While the advertising business has serious money issues, Louis Coline continues to show dedication to working at the business,with the only breaks Coline takes being to embrace his wife Nina. Fearing their business is about to go bust,the owners send Bertrand Malair in as a new manager. Caught up in Malair taking a highly active role,Coline finds himself losing all interest out of work,and developing a strange love affair for Malair's working method's.View on the film:Leaving his mark on every office desk, Michel Piccoli gives a fantastic, unsettling charismatic performance as Malair. Becoming the centre of attention with his relaxed manner and wide smile,Piccoli cleverly hints at something "off" at the sides of Malair,which steps into an obsessive fascism,where Malair kills all that Coline has in the outside world,in order to make him a box- ticking worker. Obeying Malair's orders, Gérard Lanvin gives a wonderful, uncomfortable in his own skin performance as Louis Coline,who is given a meek appearance by Lanvin,which gets completely crushed.Going to the office with Jean-Marc Roberts book,the screenplay by co-writer/(with Roberts and Christopher Frank) director Pierre Granier-Deferre mercilessly strike at the still relevant office culture,from the guys trying to impress the boss on a night out,to Malair's new working methods turning the staff into soulless robots.Picking Coline out of the pack,the writers brilliantly make Malair's dominance in Coline's life gradually get a vice-like grip,shutting out outsiders from Coline.Clearing out the desks,director Deferre & cinematographer Étienne "son of Jacques" Becker cover the film in a musky atmosphere, giving tight rows in the office an isolating texture. Choking Malair and Coline's relationship into darkness,Deferre closes in with tightly held shots unveiling Malair's growing dominance in Coline's strange affair.

tony_le_stephanois Louis Coline tries to keep up with his demanding wife and an equally demanding boss. They both want something else of him. How to cope with this? I liked the theme of how work can have an immense influence on your life. Louis is under pressure and we see him trying to cope with it. How would you respond when at midnight your boss (Michel Piccoli) and his aid (Jean-Pierre Kalfon) are on your doorstep and seconds later they are in your kitchen baking an egg? Shaving naked in your bathroom the next morning? And your wife wants to leave in her nightgown in the middle of the night? I did not enjoy the film thoroughly, unfortunately. I waited for the magic to happen but it never came. The reason is, I guess, that I found the film just too regular. A regular story about a regular guy, living with other regular people, in a style of filming that is equally regular. It was visually not very enticing. I am not familiar with the work of Pierre Granier-Deferre, but my guess is it shall be mostly slow and observing.I wouldn't go as far as calling the film bad. It is a solid production after all. It also boasts a couple of decent actors, Gerard Lanvin in his early years being surprisingly sensitive; Nathalie Baye as his wife; and Michel Piccoli as his boss. But it was actually only Jean-Pierre Kalfon who was outstanding (he would've fitted greatly in The Wolf of Wall Street).On the other hand this observing style works fine when you watch the film as some sort of time machine, to have an honest view of life in 1981 (and not the punky kitsch version of these years the media has invented). As how it was for probably most people: working, family, eating, sleeping. Not as different as life nowadays.

Thorsten_B An affair less strange than ominous. Upon confrontation with his new boss, whom he has awaited fearfully because of announcements of his rigor, a small employee gratefully accepts the role as a humble servant without realizing that his whole life is slowly transformed into a sort of "free slavery". He is so eager to participate in the system that he ceases to question any of the strange encounters he has with the boss and his obedient followers. His own life stops and is replace by his position as a puppet. In the end, when everything is gone, he is still incapable of refilling the gaps. A striking study on accommodation and the loss of self.

Elvoid This film is shy, one of those you'll fall over on a sleepless night, on an obscure TV station. And you'll find yourself attracted by its awkward mood and characters (check Jean Pierre Kalfon's performance, amazing here). Truth is, "une étrange affaire" is an "étrange" masterpiece, and I'm not ashamed to say it could have been a Kubrick film in the way it depicts extremely accurately the relationship between a king and his court, and the behaviour of mind bent court followers and how this relationship can work today, in a democracy. Piccoli is at his best, so are Balmer and Kalfon (two very under used and rated french actors) and this is probably Lanvin's best flick (that's if you're a fan of the guy). The film is cruel, and shows how easily a man can get his mind twisted, be it by a ceo or out of a "big company" context, anyone standing on any upper level and how weak and cheap the ways to use are. On that sleepless night, try to stay awake, you won't regret it, even at 4.00 AM.