Les valseuses (1974)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Bertrand Blier

Writers:

Bertrand Blier (novel)
Bertrand Blier (writer) ...

Release Date:

13 May 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

Plot:

Two whimsical, aimless thugs harass and assault women, steal, murder, and alternately charm, fight, or sprint their way out of trouble...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Sex | Stolen Car | Blonde | Naked Woman

Cast

Gérard Depardieu	...	Jean-Claude
Patrick Dewaere	...	Pierrot
Miou-Miou	...	Marie-Ange
Jeanne Moreau	...	Jeanne Pirolle
Brigitte Fossey	...	Woman in the train
Christian Alers	...	Jacqueline's father Henri
Michel Peyrelon	...	The Doctor
Gérard Boucaron	...	Carnot
Jacques Chailleux	...	Jacques Pirolle
Eva Damien	...	Doctor's wife
Dominique Davray	...	Ursula
Isabelle Huppert	...	Jacqueline
Marco Perrin	...	Supermarket inspector
Jacques Rispal	...	Maton
Claude Vergues	...	Merian

Also Known As:

Getting It Up
Going Places (USA)
Making It

Runtime:

France:150 min (restored: 1999) | Germany:111 min | USA:117 min | West Germany:116 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:-18 (original rating) | France:U (re-rating) | France:-12 (TV rating) | UK:R (1974) | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Norway:(Banned) (1974-2003) (cinema release) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Valence, Drôme, France

Company:

C.A.P.A.C.

Trivia:

The original French title is slang for "balls" (the testicular variety).

Goofs:

Continuity: Marie-Ange is shot in the shins when the boys leave her at the barbers shop, but there is no trace of any injury when they rejoin her (although there is no exact indication of the time past, it does not appear long enough for an injury of that kind to heal completely).

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Les bidasses s'en vont en guerre (1974)

If you fire off enough shots, some of them are bound to hit

The movie has a distinct (albeit brutish and rough) humanity for all its borderline depravity - the zippy/lyrical score points up the comic side of their misadventures, and even when they're at their most thuggish (like terrorizing the woman on the train), a semi-pitiful vulnerability lurks never far away (Dewaere sucks on her breasts like a baby). Blier cuts away from the scene where Depardieu may be about to rape Dewaere, so we're never sure how explicitly to read the manifestly homoerotic aspect of their relationship - either way, that incident is the start of their relative humanization (so the movie could certainly be read as pro-gay, although it could likely be read as pro-anything you want). The movie has many objectionable scenes and points of sexual politics and is probably best taken as a general cartoon on the foibles of both sexes, making a mockery of the whole notion of sensitivity and honesty, and hitting numerous points of possible profundity on the basis that if you fire off enough shots, some of them are bound to hit.