3 hommes et un couffin (1985)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Coline Serreau

Writer:

Coline Serreau (writer)

Release Date:

25 April 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Jacques, steward de Air France, accepte de garder un paquet pour le compte de Paul. Le paquet sera remis chez lui à la maison...

Plot Keywords:

Urination Scene | Local Blockbuster | Diaper | Heroin | Baby

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Roland Giraud	...	Pierre
Michel Boujenah	...	Michel
André Dussollier	...	Jacques
Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu	...	Sylvia
Dominique Lavanant	...	Mme. Rapons
Marthe Villalonga	...	Antoinette
Annick Alane	...	Pharmacist
Josine Comellas	...	Mme Rodriguez, la concierge
Gwendoline Mourlet	...	Marie N° 1
Jennifer Moret	...	Marie N° 2
François Domange	...	Paul
Gabriel Jabbour	...	Le supérieur
Julien Maurel	...	Le type
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Giuseppe Amorin
Jean Barney	...	Gérard
Marianne Basler	...	Nathalie
Christian Bouillette	...	Le premier policier
Michel Carliez
Gilles Cohen	...	Le second loubard
Basile de Bodt	...	Le jeune homme (as Bazile)
Pierre Descamps	...	Le vieux chanteur
Denis Dodlande	...	Le publiciste
Aude Doumerg
Jean-Pierre Franchetti	...	Le pilote
Maureen Guiader
Frédérique Jamet
Louis Julien	...	Lucien
Jeanne Lallemand	...	Sophie
Pierrot Larose
Marion Loran	...	Guilaine
Cécile Magnet	...	La brune
Xavier Maly	...	Le suiveur de Michel
Daniel Milgram	...	Le second policier
Valentine Monnier	...	Charlotte
Eric Munch
Philippe Orgebin
Jacques Poitrenaud	...	Le premier flic
Jean-Philippe Puymartin	...	Le photographe
Bernard Sancy	...	Le flic en uniforme
Mathé Souverbie	...	Marie-Rose
Cécile Vassort	...	Annick
Michel Vernac	...	Le gardien du square
Herma Vos	...	Clotilde
Christian Zanetti	...	Le premier loubard

Also Known As:

Three Men and a Cradle
Trois hommes et un couffin (France) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Peru:14 | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | USA:PG-13

Company:

Flach Film

Movie Connections:

Featured in CinéMagique (2002)

Coline Serreau's 3 Hommes et un Couffin (3 Men and a Cradle)

This is the French film that was remade as the treacly

ubersuccess "Three Men and a Baby." They are both equally good,

and for different reasons.

Pierre the architect, Michel the cartoonist, and Jacques the air

steward all live in the same Paris apartment. Their swinging ways

are turned upside down when Jacques' hitherto unknown infant

child is left on the doorstep with a note attached from the mother

saying she will be in the United States on a modelling shoot for a

few months. Jacques is not there, either, as he is in the Far East.

He did promise to hold a package for a friend, and Pierre and

Michel assume baby Marie is it.

Very similar to the remake, so far. The baby is given to drug

dealers, who come looking for the "package" of heroin. The

exchange is not made, and the police follow Pierre and Michel,

looking for the narcotics. Strangely, halfway through the film, Michel

hands off the heroin in a diaper to the dealer, and this plot (which

never worked in either film) suddenly ends! No hidden camera, no

dressing like a woman, and no eccentric detective. I wondered just

what the heck these people were going to do for the rest of the

film.

This is where the darkness creeped in. The mother, Sylvia, comes

home and takes the baby back. The three bachelors try to get back

to their womanizing and drinking, but they are set upon by such an

omnipotent depression, I thought I might have to call the mental

health hotline. Michel and Jacques do see the baby on occasion,

but try not to bond with it. Pierre is down right suicidal, laying in bed

with a squeaky toy.

While the first half of the film was not the light fluff of the remake,

the second half was so sad and depressing, it gives many foreign

films a bad name. The baby is so cute, but all the adults here

come off as self centered. A birthday celebration where the

shallow guests complain that a child is not "interesting" until it is a

toddler was meant to be funny, but is a little painful to watch.

In the end, the mother brings the baby back, and the men dance

for joy. This was a truly happy scene, and I wish some more

happiness had creeped in to other scenes. I can see why the

remake made such a big fuss about the drug dealer subplot, can

you imagine Tom Selleck looking like he wanted to die and Steve

Guttenberg spying on the model mom from afar? Women do not

come off well at all, being either sexual toys for the men or

complete b!tches who are only concerned with their own

happiness, screw the kid.

The film was good, but also ripe for the remake. The remake was

good, but never should have spawned the excrutiatingly awful

sequel.

This was dubbed from French into English, and is rated (PG13) for

strong profanity, brief female nudity, very brief male nudity, some

sexual content, sexual references, and drug references.