By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Philippe de Broca
Starring: Daniel Auteuil | Fabrice Luchini | Marie Gillain | Vincent Perez
Original language title: Le Bossu
Country: france, germany, italy
Year: 2002
Running time: 120
IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0212604
Laura says: “This French film has been made numerous times over the decades and de Broca’s version has a distinctly old- fashioned flavor that serves it well. ON GUARD! is classic cinema served up with heart and humor.
“The old chestnut of royal birth hidden under plebeian guise is spiced up here with filial love that begins to demand affection of a different nature. After Gonzague and his men slaughter the Nevers wedding party, the Duke and his Chevalier Lagardere fight side by side to protect Nevers’ infant daughter. The Duke succumbs to a knife wound and Lagardere, believing the Duchess also dead, takes Aurore and flees to a mountain cabin. When he’s found again, Lagardere and the baby are hidden by a traveling circus who fake their deaths with props. Calling on his acrobatic past, Lagardere and Aurore join the troupe and she grows into a feisty young lady believing Lagardere is her dad. He teaches her ‘the Nevers attack,’ a fancy fencing maneuver that’s unbeatable, but highly recognizable among the cognoscenti.
“Lagardere decides its time to regain Aurore’s rightful inheritance and a great opportunity presents itself – Gonzague, who has a penchant for hunchbacked servants, loses his faithful Esope (Charlie Nelson, L’HOMME DU TRAIN), so Lagardere disguises himself and applies for the opening, gaining access to the Counts’ books. Just as he morphs from swordsman to hunchback though, Aurore (Marie Gillain, SAFE CONDUCT), knowing the truth, wishes he’d change from father to lover.
“Daniel Auteuil has proved his comic talents before, and he’s delightful as the witty hunchback. A surprise on the funny front is Perez, who offers himself up as a genial ladies’ man with little on his mind besides the pleasures life has to offer him. Delighted by Lagardere’s swordplay, Nevers makes him his Chevalier. En route to marry Blanche (Claire Nebont, VENUS BEAUTY INSTITUTE), Nevers shares a bed overnight with Lagardere and blithely enquires ‘Do you dabble in sodomy?’ a line Perez delivers with aplomb. Both actors handle intricate action sequences with seeming ease.
“Luchini works his refined, almost delicate appearance as a mask hiding a black heart while Yann Collette (PRET A PORTER) wears his ugliness on the outside as Gonzague’s assassin Peyrolles. The great Philippe Noiret appears as Philippe d’Orleans. Gillain is a spirited Aurore and holds her own among this highly experienced group.
“de Broca (KING OF HEARTS) stages the action sequences with style and paces the film well, traversing the years of Aurore’s growth with a montage of circus performances and wagon travels. The mothballs on his material are mostly charming, although the aging of his actors is seriously neglected, with only Nebont showings ixteen years’ passage and that only by a few gray hair streaks.
“ON GUARD!” is enjoyable from start to finish, a cornucopia of what makes movies fun. ” 3 1/2 cats