My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Lionsgate)
Taking a page from Alfred Hitchcock, Renoir introduces the "movie" on his television show, "Jean Renoir Presents". The first scene is a guy in a very large suit, with shaggy hair and eyebrows, strutting down the street with a cane. He comes across a little girl walking by herself and attacks her. The whole thing is watched from a nearby balcony by a lawyer. The man is followed to the residence of one Dr. Cordelier, a friend of the lawyer, who tries to explain the whole thing away as an escaped mental patient living in a shack behind his house. More attacks follow, equally hilarious, such as when the "mad man" starts pinching butts and lifting skirts of unsuspecting women in broad daylight, and escapes each time. Cordelier is finally cornered by his lawyer friend and the whole thing is explained in a long flashback. I thought surely this must be a comedy, but no, it's a dreadfully serious affair complete with philosophical musings on the nature of evil and the soul. As a comedy, it's brilliant, but as a drama it's a complete failure, with poorly drawn characters and overacting.
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