Couples du Bois de Boulogne, Les (1974)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Christian Gion

Writers:

Philippe Gasté (writer)
Christian Gion (writer)

Release Date:

17 July 1974 (France)

Cast

Philippe Gasté	...	Bernard
Anne Libert	...	Barbara
Pierre Danny	...	Maurice
Pascale Arcia	...	Baccara
Nanic Gordana	...	Dana
Fernand Berset
Nanette Corey
Michel Delahaye
Marcel Gassouk
Jacques Jeannet
Alain Nader
Lucette Querou
André Robert
Amanda
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Claudine Beccarie
Christian Gion	...	Le metteur en scène

Directed by
Christian Gion		(as Bernard Legrand)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Philippe Gasté		writer
Christian Gion		writer (as Bernard Legrand)

Original Music by
Alain Reeves		(as Alan Reeves)

Cinematography by
Lionel Legros

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bernard Cohn	....	first assistant director

Production Companies

• Les Films de la Boétie
• Les Films du Cercle

Distributors

• Force Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Pathfinder Pictures

Also Known As:

Men and Women of the Bois de Boulogne (Canada: English title)
The Couples of Boulogne (USA) (DVD title)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:R

Company:

Les Films de la Boétie

Amusing 70s Sex Comedy

"The Couples Of Boulogne" is an entertaining French sex comedy from the 1970s. The film is something of an oddity, being neither straightforward soft core porn, nor an attempt at serious film-making. The film does have a plot and strong production values but there is no underlying symbolism or social commentary. The director makes it clear from the very beginning that his goal is to pad the skeletal storyline with as much nudity and gratuitous sexual activity as possible. The result lies somewhere between Porkies and a cheap, French James Bond film.

The plot revolves around an unhappily married couple who become sworn enemies when a wealthy man offers a one million dollar reward to the spouse who succeeds in finding his missing son first. The film follows the progress of the pair on their search for the missing man, as they find new lovers and embark on a series of increasingly ludicrous sexual adventures, which include various threesome combinations, a memorable orgy and an acrobatic sexual encounter on a yacht.

Personally, I found "The Couples Of Boulogne" more amusing than erotic. The scene where Barbara performs cunnilingus on the maid in front of her unimpressed husband is downright hilarious. There is indeed a lot of flesh on display but the context in which it appears, is just too ridiculous to be anything other than funny. The film does offer an interesting insight into the European moral code of the 1970s and contains some beautiful footage France and the Caribbean. However, the film can not quite sustain it's paper thin plot over the full running time and I had lost interest by the time the film reached its uninspired conclusion.