La poule: A frantic, old-school mess

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you have a soft spot for dusty, black-and-white French farces that rely entirely on people yelling over each other. If you hate old movies that feel like a stage play stuck in a blender, skip this. It’s not exactly high art, but it’s got a weird energy that kept me watching until the end.

The whole premise is just absurdly thin. A hen goes missing, and everyone acts like it's the end of the world. It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Pas un mot à ma femme where simple misunderstandings just spiral out of control for no reason.

Notes from the couch

• The pacing is frantic. Like, really frantic. Everyone is always running from one side of the room to the other.
• The sound design is… well, it’s definitely from a different era. The audio pops and hisses like it’s fighting for its life.
• There’s a specific scene involving a kitchen table that goes on for about three minutes too long. You can literally see the actors trying to remember their blocking.

It’s not as sharp as some of the classics from that era. Sometimes it feels more like a sketch that got stretched into a feature film. You know those moments where a movie tries to be funny by just having everyone talk at the same time? Yeah, there's a lot of that.

Marguerite Moreno is doing some heavy lifting here. She’s probably the only person on screen who knows exactly what the tone of the scene is supposed to be, while everyone else seems to be improvising their stress levels. 🐔

It's weirdly charming, though. It’s the kind of movie you find on a dusty shelf that makes you go, "Why does this even exist?" but you finish it anyway because you’re already invested in the chicken. Don't go looking for deep meaning. It’s just people being loud in suits.

Also, the lighting in the third act is genuinely baffling. It’s like they suddenly decided that shadows were illegal. Very strange. Anyway, if you're bored on a rainy Sunday, it's not the worst way to kill an hour.