SANTA & CIE
France/Belgium, 2017, 92 minutes, Colour.
Alain Chabat, Golshifteh Farahani, Pio Marmai, Bruno Sanches, Louise Chabat, Audrey Tautou, Gregoire Ludig.
Directed by Alain Chabat.
Not exactly the familiar story of Santa Claus (although there have been many unusual Santa Claus stories with actors like Dudley Moore and, especially, the series with Tim Allen).
This time Santa is played by French writer and director, Alain Chabat. He lives at the North Pole with his wife, a role for Audrey Tautou, loving her husband but complaining that he never lets her go out, especially on his Christmas travels. He goes to the workshop, is critical of one of the elves who is a bit smug in his superiority – and an alarm when all the 93,000 elves all collapse. It seems they need vitamin C and Santa is urged to go to Australia’s Northern Territory to find Kakadu plants with enough of the vitamin.
Santa is rather gruff, a bit of a tyrant, pleased with himself, taking his sleigh and the reindeer but finding himself having to land on the roof in Paris.
Most of the comedy consists of Santa, who wears green, frequently being told that he should be wearing red. He causes a lot of emotions as he tries various ways to get vitamins, especially in causing chaos in a pharmacy. He is put in jail, a lawyer (Pio Marmai) assigned to defend him. The lawyer also has some problems with his recalcitrant thief brother. The lawyer does not believe Santa Claus’ story – who would?
The rest of Santa’s adventures in Paris consist of the lawyer, his sympathetic wife, their two eager children who write letters to Santa, making every effort in their search for the vitamins. Santa becomes a little mellower during these adventures. There is a complication when the lawyer’s brother turns up, disbelieving, but then believing, urged to do a magic show for a children’s party. The parties in honour of Tatyana, a little girl who writes demanding letters to Santa for gifts. The brother uses Santa’s bag (bottomless) in which the collected tablets are stored but he puts the little girl in – and, of course, can’t get her out.
Even more shenanigans, sleigh rides with the children, Santa wanting to get back home so that there will be Christmas with gifts (Santa has a nightmare, held up in an empty Paris street because Christmas has no gifts this year). When he gets back home, all the elves are still prostrate – but he opens a letter from the lawyers’ two children who send him a tablet with their love. Needless to say, this does the trick, the elves revive, the gifts are made, Santa and his wife go travelling and all is well.
Santa is a blend of the cheerful and the cantankerous which gives the comedy some edge, with some appeal for the children’s audience with the hope that parents will enjoy it as well.
