LA CARAPATE

France, 1978, 105 minutes, Colour.
Pierre Richard, Victor Lanoux, Yvonne Gaudeaux.
Directed by Gerard Oury.

La Carapate is a very entertaining and funny French drama. It stars comedian Pierre Richard and serious actor in a comedy role, Victor Lanoux. They form a very entertaining odd couple from their escape from prison, adventure through the French countryside and climax in Paris in the atmosphere of student revolution of 1968. The film compares well with Eduardo Molinaro's A Pain in the A... (L'Emmerdeur).

1. An engaging French comedy? The blend of comedy, farce, serious themes? The irony of the title and the focus on the odd couple being on the lam?

2. The background of 1968 and student revolution? The re-creation of the period? The implications for social disorder and rebellion in France? The scenes of revolution and the barricades? The repercussions for the prisons? The background of ordinary day-to-day life in France in this context? Sequences of Paris, Lyons? The prison, on the road from Lyons to Paris? ordinary people, students, the wealthy, the farmhouse people? Colour photography? The jaunty score?

3. The success of the comedy duo: Pierre Richard and his zany comic style in many films? The contrast with serious actor-turned-comedian Victor Lanoux? The contrast of their styles? Their reacting against each other? Zaniness and farce versus comic touches, versus pathos and the serious? The background of the legal profession, attitudes towards the political Left? The Right-wing prisoner? The odd couple on the road and the visual jokes, verbal jokes, comedy routines e.g. Richard imitating Harpo Marx?

4. Richard and his relationship with his father and the humour of carrying him and his travel? The martial arts? His going to the prison, fears, his trousers, the escape? The encounter with his client and the mistrust of each other? on the road and the growing bonds, the quality of friendship, his managing despite the difficulties, his father's presence, robbery, family, the petition, the search, the ending? The character in humorous circumstances? His changing with relationships?

5. Victor Lanoux as Martial? Tough, angry, the prison sequences, the escape, the suit too small for him and its bursting, the meticulous detail of the escape in the riot, his taking charge of the vehicle, his exasperation with his lawyer? Infatuation with women? The accident on the freeway? The White Swallow? Ingenuity, stunts? The car, the father, the barricades? His finally giving up and the spectacular escape through the window and into the Seine? Guilt and sympathies?

6. Audience response to the series of adventures: comic touches, their being worked into the plot, illustrating characters, the ingenuity of their staging? The suit and the escape, the car, the prostitute in the crash, the river, the helicopter, the truck and the leap. the robbing of the bank, the robbing of the car, the farm and the search, the truck and the accident, the police and the riot, the father and his house, Paris and the train?

7. The background of the barricades, student revolt, the rich couple and their car, the robbery and the explosion and destruction of the car and the money?

8. The father and his values, enjoying himself? The relationship with the family?

9. The farm sequence and the duplicity?

10. The couple and their escaping with their money and possessions, the picnic. their inability to go to the police, the robbing of the bank, the couple and the train? At the barricades and the explosion?

11. The sketch of the police and their pursuit of the odd couple?

12. The political and social background and the comment made for French audiences especially about French society in the '60s?