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L'Emmerdeur
A Pain in the Ass
Il Rompiballe / The Fun Maker / Die Filzlaus / Die Klette
France/Italy 1973
produced by
Georges Dancigers, Alexandre Mnouchkine for les Films Ariane, Mondex Films, Oceania Produzioni Internazionali Cinematografiche, Rizzoli Film
directed by Edouard Molinaro
starring Lino Ventura, Jacques Brel, Caroline Cellier, Jean-Pierre Darras, Nino Castelnuovo, Angela Cardile, Michele Gammino, Xavier Depraz, Francois Dyrek, Jean-Louis Tristan, André Valardy, Jean Franval, Pierre Collet, Arlette Balkis, Jacques Galland
screenplay by Francis Veber, based on his play Le Contrat, music by Jacques Brel, Francois Rauber
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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When Milan (Lino Ventura) checks into a hotel in Montpellier across the
courthouse, all he was planning to do was to shoot a key witness (Xavier
Depraz) in a trial against the mob dead from the comfort of his hotelroom
window - but unfortunately, Pignon (Jacques Brel) has picked exactly the
next room to commit suicide after his wife Louise (Caroline Cellier) has
left him for a psychiatrist called Fuchs (Jean-Pierre Darras). Now Pignon
totally botches up his suicide attempt, but the hotel's bellhop (Nino
Castelnuovo) gets curious and already wants to call the police - the last
thing Milan needs of course, so he promises the bellhop to take care of
Pignon ... but unfortunately Pignon proves a regular pain in the ass and
doesn't get off Milan's back - until Milan promises to bring him back
together with his wife. Now this of course ends in utter disaster, and
ultimately Pignon wants to leap off the windowsill to his death after
failing to hook up with his wife again, but Milan saves him but falls onto
the balcony below and thus suffers from a concussion. The doctor who comes
up to treat him is actually Fuchs who thinks he's Pignon and thus heavily
sedates him. But Milan can still think clearly enough to know he has a
contract to fulfill, so in his drowsy state, he manages to force Fuchs to
get him back to his senses again, and even bring Pignon and Louise back
together. So it seems Milan is going to make it just in time for the
assassination after all ... and then Pignon finds his gun and shoots and
injures Milan in an accident - and suddenly both of them are on the run
from the law ... which ends in jail, where Milan still can't get rid of
that pain in the ass Pignon. A Pain in the Ass has a
great, almost absurd premise, some great twists and turns, and a great
cast - but the outcome is merely pretty funny. Mainly, while the premise
of this story might border the absurd, its execution is just too
straight-forward, the thing at times lacks subtlety, and some of the
better subplots feel underdeveloped - and that said, A Pain in the Ass,
as mentioned, is without a doubt a pretty funny movie with plenty of
laugh-out-loud scenes that can be wholly enjoyed - one just can't shake
the feeling it could have been even better. By the way, this
movie was remade in the USA in 1981 by Billy Wilder as Buddy Buddy,
while in 2008, Francis Veber, scriptwriter of the original, made his own
version of L'Emmerdeur.
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find A Pain in the Ass at adultvideouniverse.com
