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L'Auberge Rouge
The Red Inn
France 2007
produced by Christian Fechner, Hervé Truffaut (executive) for Fechner Audiovisuel, TF1, Canal+
directed by Gérard Krawczyk
starring Christian Clavier, Josiane Balasko, Gérard Jugnot, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, Sylvie Joly, Anne Girouard, Urbain Canelier, Francois-Xavier Demaison, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, Laurent Gamelon, Christian Bujeau, Ilivier Saladin, Igor Skreblin, Juliette Lamboley, Frédéric Epaud, Jan Rouiller
screenplay by Christian Clavier, Michel Delgado, based on the 1951 film L'Auberge Rouge, written by Jean Aurenche, directed by Claude Autant-Lara, music by Alexandre Azaria, special effects by Philippe Hubin, visual effects by Duran Duboi
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Pierre Martin (Christian Clavier) and his wife Rose (Josiane Balasko)
run an inn in some remote mountains, with their lovely daughter Mathilde
(Juliette Lamboley) luring rich customers to them while their idiot son
Violet (Frédéric Epaud) acts as their killer ... since they make hardly
any money from the inn, they have to murder and rob their customers to get
by, right? This time around though, something goes wrong as the rich
bunch Mathilde is bringing in is accompanied by a priest (Gérard Jugnot),
and for some reason or other, Rose decides to confess her crimes to him
... and from now on, the priest does his best to warn the other guests - a
bunch of despicable aristocrats by the way - of the murderous innkeepers,
but the seal of confession forbids him to actually say what he knows -
which leads to all kinds of confusion, so much so that in the end, one of
the aristocrats thinks he's a madman and informs the authorities.
Meanwhile though, Pierre and Rose strike a deal with the priest: If he
marries his student Octave (Jean-Baptiste Maunier) to their daughter
Mathilde - the two youngsters are madly in love -, they let their supposed
victims go. Right after the marriage, the authorities storm in and arrest
the priest, and only just is he saved when a corpse is found hidden in a
scarecrow. Now it's Pierre, Rose and Violet who are arrested and brought
to the capital for trial. However, the bunch of despicable aristocrats
get their punishment when a bridge they are crossing breaks down under
them - Violet has sabotaged it earlier on - and they fall to their deaths. Only
the priest, Octave and Mathilde do have a happy ending it seems ... Nice
and macabre black comedy - that's also a tad old-fashioned though and does
not manage to add anything significant to the original L'Auberge Rouge
from 1951. Especially in terms of sociopolitical or religious satire the
film, apart from a few valiant attempts, remains incredibly toothless.
That said, the film at least features a great ensemble cast, with
especially Christian Clavier as the sleazy innkeeper and Gérard Jugnot as
the slightly choleric priest being at the top of their game. So while it
might be nothing special, the film is at least good for a few laughs.
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