Papa sans le savoir: A French comedy that mostly just wanders around

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you are a completionist for 1930s French cinema or really need something to put on while you fold laundry. If you love fast-paced screwball comedies, this will probably drive you up the wall with how slowly it decides to get anywhere. But if you like watching people try to hide babies in fancy apartments while wearing suits that probably cost more than my car, you might find a bit of fun here.

The whole setup is the kind of thing that feels like it should be hilarious. A guy stuck between his terrifyingly posh mother and a secret kid? That is a recipe for disaster. But the movie plays it weirdly safe. It feels like everyone is holding their breath waiting for something scandalous to happen, but the scandal is mostly just people talking in rooms.

There is this one moment where Leon is trying to talk to his mother, and the way she just ignores his entire existence while staring at a teacup is genuinely funny. It is the kind of small, nasty detail that makes you realize why Leon is so desperate to escape. He is a coward, clearly, but you kind of get it.

I couldn't help but think of how much more chaotic things get in Romance of the Underworld, where the stakes actually feel like they might crush someone. Here, the poverty plot feels a bit like a costume accessory. They mention the lady is broke, but the apartment they’re hanging out in looks pretty decent to me. Maybe my standards are just too low?

The performances are fine. They are stiff, sure, but that feels like the style of the time. Sometimes the dialogue just stops dead, and everyone stares at each other for a beat too long. It is awkward. It is charming. It is probably a result of the filming technology of the era, but I like to pretend they were all just having a collective moment of silence.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Does it need to be? Probably not. It’s a snapshot of a time where people were way too worried about what their neighbors thought about their marital prospects. There are worse ways to spend an hour, but don't go in expecting a life-changing event.

Notes from the couch:

• The lighting in the third act is genuinely weird, like they suddenly forgot how shadows work.
• I spent way too much time looking at the wallpaper. It is very busy.
• Noël-Noël is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
• The ending is... well, it is an ending. They stop the camera eventually.