Friday, July 1, 2011

LE SAUVAGE (1975)

Catherine Deneuve is bullied into promising to marry a local gangster, Vittorio. She's very unhappy, so a few days before the wedding she runs away, but doesn't make it far before Vittorio is hot on her trail. After some exciting and funny misadventures she ends up on a deserted island with Yves Montand. He rents the island, has a really nice set up going and doesn't want any company, but he has it anyway because Catherine refuses to leave! They have a small war, but soon enough romantic sparks begin to fly. I was pleasantly surprised to see how natural their romance grew. It wasn't forced like you see in a lot of romantic comedies. I was also surprised, more like shocked, to see Tony Roberts with a substantial role in this film and speaking French!

When I first put this movie in I thought it was going to be a deserted island drama, but instead it's an light-hearted comedy and a good one at that. I found myself laughing a number of times and will definitely be watching it again. It also didn't hurt that the tan Catherine is beautiful and runs around in warm weather clothing and even gets topless! Yves turns in a perfect performance, Catherine is beautiful and funny and the script was very well written and kept my attention the entire time. When it was over I found myself wishing it had been longer!

[SPOILERS!!!] At the end, I wish that instead of returning to his childhood home, Catherine instead had rebuild the house that got burned down on the island. I think that would have been more romantic.[SPOILERS!!!]