La zizanie (1978)

Directed by: Claude Zidi | 97 minutes | comedy | Actors: Louis de Funès, Annie Girardot, Maurice Risch, Jean-Jacques Moreau, Geneviève Fontanel, Jacques François, Georges Staquet, Mario David, Daniel Boulanger, Tanya Lopert, Julien Guiomar, Clémentine Amouroux, Henri Attal, André Badin, Renaud Barbier, Farid Ben Dali, Philippe Brigaud, Catherine Cambis, Jean Cherlian, Nicole Chollet, Hubert Deschamps, Erick Desmarestz, Robert Destain, Van Duong, Claire Favretto, Vincent Gardair, Joséphine Fresson, Ham-Chau Luong

Although Louis de Funès is certainly not always hilarious, his infectious energy and his sympathetic appearance give him the capacity to carry a film on his shoulders when the content is of a lesser quality. This also applies to ‘La Zizanie’, a film with a so-so story, but with nice characters and actors and, okay, a nice set-up that ensures that the viewer only sinks in when the film is almost over.

The opening of the film, in which the characters and their activities become clear, is strong and witty. Guillaume is a man – a mayor, but also a strange inventor – who is married to his job, but also has to maintain a real marriage to his wife Bernadette (Annie Girardot). If he can’t sleep at night, his wife tells him to count his workers (instead of sheep) (again). This usually works. In the beginning of the film, Guillaume worries about a deal with “his” Japanese, who are interested in a gigantic machine that he has built that can suck out and defuse smog. They immediately want 3000 of them, which is quite literally settled at a Japanese themed dinner. He has also made many more unique inventions, such as a dish that catches the sun’s rays and turns it into a heat source that heats a frying pan in which an egg is splashing. Ideal right? This just means you can’t eat a fried egg when it’s raining, but that aside. Guillaume is a true Willie Wortel, Professor Barabas, or Doc from ‘Back to the Future’.

In any case, Guillaume has struck a great deal that will bring in a lot of money. To build those 3000 machines, Guillaume just needs a lot of space, which he doesn’t have. He would prefer to use his wife’s vegetable garden for this, but that is out of the question. So he stuffs the whole house with his machines, which not only creates a lack of space for him and his wife, but also makes a deafening noise. Quite a problem if his wife has to give piano lessons, for example. So that piano has to move to the conservatory, between the plants, and the bed is turned into a bunk bed to save space.

The director knows how to keep this situation (loving couple trying to keep their spirits up with noisy machines in the background) fun for a surprisingly long time. This is partly because Bernadette doesn’t just whine about her vegetable garden or put the knife to her husband’s throat, but also really makes an effort to make something of it. So they just dine romantically in the midst of all the chaos as if nothing had happened, casually walking in pajamas among all the machines and workers.

When the measure is really full for Bernadette, you as a viewer expect that there will also be an interesting plot twist, but this one is still quite a while away. Because she leaves but is soon persuaded to come back, and then everything starts all over again (for a while). And when she finally takes the big step to confront her husband, this part of the film, when it comes to humor, drama, or suspense, unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately, the film ends on a successful, comic note, when Guillaume has just resigned himself to his wife’s wishes, but his inventor and business blood still crawls where it can’t go. The machine he comes up with at the end of the film cannot but have been a direct source of inspiration for Nick Park and Peter Lord when they came up with the short film ‘A Close Shave’. Awesome!