Checking in on Les vingt-huit jours de Clairette

Is this for you?

If you have a soft spot for old-school French comedies that feel like they were filmed inside a very crowded living room, you’ll probably find something to enjoy here. If you need your pacing snappy and your dialogue grounded in reality, well, you might want to skip this one entirely. It’s definitely not for everyone, especially those who get annoyed by characters who constantly burst into song or make decisions that make zero sense.

Honestly, watching Les vingt-huit jours de Clairette feels like stumbling into a party where everyone is a little bit drunker than you are. There’s a frantic, almost desperate energy to the whole production.

The cast is huge, and I’m fairly sure half of them forgot where they were supposed to be standing during the second act. You can see them looking off-camera, waiting for a cue that feels like it came about three seconds too late.

Oddly specific observations:

• There is a moment in the middle where a character trips over a rug that clearly wasn't supposed to be there. Nobody acknowledges it, but you can see them wince.
• The wardrobe changes happen so fast it’s like the characters are playing a high-stakes game of musical chairs.
• Some of the background extras are clearly just trying not to laugh at whatever the lead is doing.

It reminds me a bit of Paradise for Two in how it treats its own premise—like a toy that’s been played with just a little too hard. It’s not trying to change the world. It’s just trying to keep the spinning plates from falling off the sticks.

I found myself zoning out during the long, rambling musical numbers, only to be jolted back by some really sharp bit of banter that felt totally out of place. It’s uneven. Very uneven. But in a way that feels human, I guess.

The pacing is a nightmare. It moves at a crawl for ten minutes, then everyone starts running in circles for no reason at all. It’s exhausting, frankly. 😅

Sometimes the film feels like it’s trying to be Servant's Entrance but with a much lower budget and a lot more confusion. Still, there’s a weird, stubborn charm to it. It’s a relic, for sure, but a noisy one.

I didn't hate it. I just felt like I needed a nap after the credits rolled.