The return of Jugnot.

As star or director, Gérard Jugnot has run up a a body of work that has made him one of the most impressive (and agreeable) presences in film. Moving from bit parts (in 1977 he was in Tavernier's Enfants gatés and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo), through the Bronzés films with his cabaret chums, to solo efforts like Pinot simple flic (1984) and Scout toujours (1985) and  to the peaks of M. Batignole (2002), Fauberg 36 and Les brigades du Tigre (both 2006) and Rose & noir / Fashion victim (2009). It's alarming just how little of his extensive filmography has filtered through to us. Despite loading up on European DVDs, I hadn't seen him on screen since his walk-on in The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir.

Special Correspondents - Jugnot & Gérard Lanvin.

 Now he's turned up in Nicolas Cuche's Pourris gâtés / Spoiled Brats on Netflix, without fanfare, in an excellent, sub-titles copy.

 Spoiled Brats is a re-make of  Gary Alazraki's, 2013 Mexican comedy Nosotros los Nobles. The first impression is that this seems slight after the best we've seen from Jugnot. 

The plot is immediately predictable. Widower industrialist Jugnot’s three adult children Stella Bartek, Artus and Louka Meliava are living wasteful, indulged lives. 

 We know that dad is going to straighten them out and his plan of faking destitution will put them back on the right track. We saw this one in with Kirk Douglas in Jonathon Lynn’s 1994 Greedy for one. However about half way, we realise that there’s intelligence characteristic of Jugnot’s best other movies coming into play. He marches them off to hard times in dreaded Marseilles, as well wishers try to help the impoverished family and charm-loaded fortune hunter Tom Leeb sees through the deception and provides his fake solution to the fake problem.

The surprise aspect of this one is that we get to like the obnoxious offspring and start to share their take on Jugnot, who we’ve been conditioned to give actor recognition approval. We begin to to see that their problems start with him. This is not a particularly profound statement but it is made to play out agreeably with some clever writing - Artus learning what his father couldn’t teach him from a fellow tuk-tuk pedicab driver, now-waitress Bartek joining in spitting on the haricots verts of her abrasive customer and Meliava displaying craftsman skills he developed diverting the college toilets into the dean’s shower.

Spoiled Brats - Tuk tuks in Marseilles.

Resurrecting the dilapidated original family home, as the piece runs, and the wedding climax, complete with a signing translator, support the content.

The craft aspects are excellent with Tristan Tortuyaux'  sunny, wide, colour images and Alexandre Azaria's cheery score. The whole cast are on top of their task. We can see why they gave the last word to Leeb. This one ends up being a polished exercise in feel good. I still feel that Gérard Jugnot is punching below his weight but that’s his decision. It's good to know he's still out there.
 

Spoiled Brats - Bartek and Jugnot.

Barrie Pattison 2023.