Lune de miel: A messy little French farce

Is it worth your time?

If you have a thing for black-and-white French comedies from the 1930s, you’ll probably find something to smile about here. It’s light, it’s breezy, and it doesn't try to solve the world's problems. If you need a movie that is grounded in reality or has a tight, logical script, you’re going to be pulling your hair out by the second act.

There is this one scene where a door gets opened and closed about six times in a row. I started counting after the third one because the timing was so off. It felt like the actors were waiting for a cue that never actually came. It was kind of charming, in a weird, clumsy way.

Albert Préjean is doing a lot of heavy lifting here with just his eyebrows. He has this way of looking perpetually confused, like he just realized he left the stove on back in Paris. It’s a performance that doesn’t need much dialogue to work, which is lucky because the script feels like it was written on a napkin during a lunch break.

Small things I noticed

• The background extras in the train station seem to be having a much more interesting conversation than the main characters.
• The sound mixing is… well, it’s loud. Every footstep sounds like a gunshot.
• There is a hat that shows up in three different scenes, and I’m pretty sure it’s the only hat the costume department had.

Watching this made me think about Gachucha, fille basque, which also has that frantic, outdoor energy that these older films seem to love. They just throw people into a square and hope for the best. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s just noise.

The pacing is a total disaster. It stops dead for these musical bits that don't really push the story forward, they just sort of happen. It’s like the film takes a nap in the middle of a chase sequence. I didn't mind it, honestly. It felt like watching a movie with a friend who keeps pausing to tell you a story about their cat.

The ending is exactly what you expect. You know the guy gets the girl, or the girl gets the guy, or everyone just ends up at the same café drinking wine. It’s not trying to surprise you. It’s just trying to be a pleasant way to kill an hour and some change. 🎞️

I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this to a casual viewer. But for those of us who like digging through the bargain bin of history? Yeah, it’s a nice little oddity. Just don't expect it to change your life.