Train de plaisir: A messy, vintage farce that barely holds together

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you have a soft spot for 1930s French farce. It’s light, it’s silly, and it moves with the speed of a runaway train. If you’re looking for something grounded or deep, skip it. You’ll probably hate this if you get annoyed by characters making the worst possible choices for no reason.

The whole thing feels like a stage play that got locked in a room and told to run around in circles. Marguerite and Verdurin are so broke they’d do anything for a sea breeze, and watching them manipulate their boss, Prosper Biscoton, is mostly just watching people act like absolute goons. It’s charming in a dusty sort of way.

The pacing is… frantic? It doesn't really have a steady rhythm. Scenes just sort of collide into one another. It reminded me a bit of the manic energy in It Pays to Advertise, where everyone is talking over each other just to keep the momentum going.

There is a moment where the boss, Biscoton, tries to smooth things over with his wife, and the look on his face is pure, unadulterated panic. It lasts about three seconds too long. It’s not genius filmmaking, but it’s the kind of awkward, physical comedy moment that actually sticks with you after the screen goes black. 🚂

The bits that stuck

• The shop set feels like it’s made of cardboard and hope.
• The dialogue is fast, almost like a machine gun of bad ideas.
• There’s a scene in the second half where the background extras look like they forgot where they were supposed to stand. It’s hilarious.
• The wife character is a force of nature, honestly. She’s the only one who seems to know what’s actually happening.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it a fun way to kill an hour if you don't mind black and white film grain and some outdated tropes? Sure. It’s not as polished as the stuff coming out of Hollywood at the time, but it’s got a personality of its own. It’s messy, a bit loud, and ultimately forgets to explain half its own jokes. Sometimes that’s just how it goes.

It’s not trying to be a deep dive like The Complete Life. It just wants you to laugh at a guy losing his mind because he thought a pretty girl liked him. Mission accomplished, I guess.