RADIN!

France, 2016, 89 minutes, Colour.
Dany Boon, Laurence Arne, Noemie Schmidt.
Directed by Fred Cavaye.

Radin means someone who is stingy.

Dany Boon has appeared in quite a number of comedies. He is François, doomed already in the womb to be mean in his approach to his parents, his family, his friends. The audience is given a glimpse of this in his growing up years, but, especially, in his thrift in buying condoms which leads to his girlfriend becoming pregnant, something he is unaware of until his daughter appears in decades later in his life.

François is very frugal, using food stamps and bargaining with them at the supermarket, careful about electricity, an almost empty wardrobe… His outlet is music, coaching children, playing in an orchestra.

His behaviour is challenged by a fellow musician, Valerie, who is attracted to him, whom he takes out to an expensive meal (while he subsists on meagre rations of water), and then by the long-lost daughter who comes to stay with him. There is an emotional development as his daughter needs a kidney transplant – and François is compatible with her.

His neighbours dislike him intensely but his daughter tells the story about his supporting an orphanage in Mexico – which he doesn’t. This makes them very forgiving. And, at the end, after donating his kidney, in reality or in imagination, he and his daughter go to Mexico to meet the orphans.

Slight, but humorous – and a bit of a mirror-image for those who are stingy in attitude and behaviour.

1. The comedy with serious undertones? And some moralising?

2. Friends, the city, homes, streets, restaurants, theatre, church, music recitals? The neighbourhood, enclosed, the homes and streets? The contrast with Mexico, the orphanage, the desert? The musical score?

3. The background of François? In the womb, his mother’s words? Destined to be mean? As a child, the date to the cinema in the multiscreens, his music?

4. François and his story, his age, the glimpse of the sexual encounter and the cheap condom? The later revelation of his daughter? His music? Teaching the children? Playing in the orchestra? His mean way of life? The attraction to Valerie?

5. The sequences showing François and his stinginess? Not returning things to people, the pen, the helmet…? Electricity at home? Darkness? Issues of money, going to the bank, the discussions about how to save money, the outing to the restaurant and his thinking about declaring bankruptcy? His forever ringing his banker friend? Borrowing the tuxedo and the tight shoes? His empty wardrobe? Food and leftovers? Quibbling with certificates at the checkout?

6. The attraction to Valerie, her wanting a lesson? Going out to the restaurant, the waiter and his comments? François being careful with the food, Valerie enjoying the meal, putting her in the taxi and walking home?

7. Laura, her arrival, explanation, his disbelief, his allowing her to stay? All the notices and the various charges for water, electricity…? Her putting up with him? His contacting her mother? The stories about Mexico, the orphanage?

8. The hostility of the people in the neighbourhood, the graffiti against him? The meeting in his house, his not contributing to the expenses? Laura and her explanation, their apologies, everybody admiring him about Mexico? Valerie, admiring him? Her non-profit organisation? Raising the money? His speech at the dinner, the recital?

9. The lift from his neighbour, chatting, the neighbour and financial difficulty, he and his children coming into François’s house? Laura helping him? The phone call to the church, playing the music quickly? The would-be director and his sense of doom? The priest congratulating him on being modern? Valerie giving him a lift back?

10. The truth about Mexico? His being able to cover it? The truth about Laura, her need for a kidney? The challenge to him? His response?

11. And the visit to Mexico, the orphans, his good deeds – real or fantasy? In the finale stranded in the desert?