Ten hours of work a day and a good homemade meal or a breakfast in bed and three months of idleness? No. Let me try again.
To go to work or to stay in bed? Well like we tend to say in France these days, "la question est vite répondue".
For Alexandre, the main character of "Alexandre le Bienheureux", those questions are just irrelevant. Quite the contrary in fact. Working is altogether exploitation, whether in a small or large load. Thus, it is against his nature, as a man, as a human born in a world full of natural pleasures. As indicated by her name, the second main character, his wife La Grande ("The tall woman" who's tall in power over Alexandre) played by the famous Françoise Brion)) keeps Alexandre in slavery. He works for her in culture fields, always under a blazing sun, vigorously and tirelessly. While she is in charge of work and of the mental load...
However, eventually, La Grande blesses him with her death, which resuscitates him into living a life he's always desired : staying in his bed! He takes back his free will and uses it to accomplish his ultimate dream lifestyle, which is a bucolic resignation. So he indulges in deep passivity, eternal rest, and contemplation. He lets his whole attention be constantly seduced by comfort and by the odors, forms, and sounds (wonderfully composed by Vladimir Cosma) that the world gives him to see and feel. That herculean figure that Philippe Noiret lends to the character becomes almost canonized among his peers since Alexandre's abandonment of labor triggers waves of somnolence and impromptu retreats from work through the streets of his village and its liveliness (it even affects an energetic war veteran interpreted by PIERRE RICHARD <3). No absurd comic anymore. Like the greek King Alexander The Great, he leaves after him the traces of an excentric philosophy that grants him hiw own legacy with his epithet : "le Bienheureux".
So, goodbye to the weight social roles and financial responsibilities that the head of the household must bear on his shoulders til' exhaustion. Here comes instead a sweet escapade through the true essence of man's oblivion. Maybe the way Sartre would have defined it during the time of the movie. The director, Yves Robert, seems to have shown how happiness might be a decision that comes like a defeating storm in a lifetime; and I literally can't take this message personally... if I want to eat and live in comfort, surviving. However, those ninety minutes of fabulistic comedy were comforting, thank god the sensation lasts.
To go to work or to stay in bed? Well like we tend to say in France these days, "la question est vite répondue".
For Alexandre, the main character of "Alexandre le Bienheureux", those questions are just irrelevant. Quite the contrary in fact. Working is altogether exploitation, whether in a small or large load. Thus, it is against his nature, as a man, as a human born in a world full of natural pleasures. As indicated by her name, the second main character, his wife La Grande ("The tall woman" who's tall in power over Alexandre) played by the famous Françoise Brion)) keeps Alexandre in slavery. He works for her in culture fields, always under a blazing sun, vigorously and tirelessly. While she is in charge of work and of the mental load...
However, eventually, La Grande blesses him with her death, which resuscitates him into living a life he's always desired : staying in his bed! He takes back his free will and uses it to accomplish his ultimate dream lifestyle, which is a bucolic resignation. So he indulges in deep passivity, eternal rest, and contemplation. He lets his whole attention be constantly seduced by comfort and by the odors, forms, and sounds (wonderfully composed by Vladimir Cosma) that the world gives him to see and feel. That herculean figure that Philippe Noiret lends to the character becomes almost canonized among his peers since Alexandre's abandonment of labor triggers waves of somnolence and impromptu retreats from work through the streets of his village and its liveliness (it even affects an energetic war veteran interpreted by PIERRE RICHARD <3). No absurd comic anymore. Like the greek King Alexander The Great, he leaves after him the traces of an excentric philosophy that grants him hiw own legacy with his epithet : "le Bienheureux".
So, goodbye to the weight social roles and financial responsibilities that the head of the household must bear on his shoulders til' exhaustion. Here comes instead a sweet escapade through the true essence of man's oblivion. Maybe the way Sartre would have defined it during the time of the movie. The director, Yves Robert, seems to have shown how happiness might be a decision that comes like a defeating storm in a lifetime; and I literally can't take this message personally... if I want to eat and live in comfort, surviving. However, those ninety minutes of fabulistic comedy were comforting, thank god the sensation lasts.