| Get Out Your Handkerchiefs | |
|---|---|
 French film poster | |
| Préparez vos mouchoirs | |
| Directed by | Bertrand Blier |
| Written by | Bertrand Blier |
| Produced by | Paul Claudon Georges Dancigers Alexandre Mnouchkine |
| Starring | Gérard Depardieu Patrick Dewaere Carole Laure |
| Cinematography | Jean Penzer |
| Edited by | Claudine Merlin |
| Music by | Georges Delerue |
| Distributed by | Compagnie Commerciale Française Cinématographique |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Box office | $2,086,000[1] |
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (French:Préparez vos mouchoirs) is a 1978 French comedy film directed byBertrand Blier and starringCarole Laure,Gérard Depardieu,Patrick Dewaere andRiton Liebman. The film won theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the51st Academy Awards. Critic Arion Berger called it "aromantic comedy that bears no resemblance to romantic comedy as a genre".[2]
The film tells the story of aménage à trois in which two men share a woman to cure her of an unexplained depression, with many symptoms. Eventually, she begins an affair with anunderage boy. The film employs heavy references to historical musicianWolfgang Amadeus Mozart, combined with the music of the film's composerGeorges Delerue, who won theCésar Award for Best Original Music.Get Out Your Handkerchiefs was a critical success.
Raoul and his wife Solange are eating in a restaurant when Raoul expresses concern with Solange's apparent depression, as she eats little, suffers migraines and insomnia, and also sometimes faints. He finds another man in the room, Stéphane, to be her lover and hopefully enliven her. Stéphane is puzzled by Raoul's plan, but gives in to his desperate appeals for help. The two men take turns sleeping with Solange, and both try to impregnate her without success, believing a lack of a child to be the source of her depression. Stéphane also shares his love for the music ofMozart andPocket Books with the two and their neighbourhood grocer. The music inspires the men, but not Solange.
Raoul, Solange, and Stéphane work at a boys' camp in the summer, where they meet a 13-year-oldmath prodigy named Christian Belœil, who is bullied by the other boys. Solange becomes protective of Christian and one night lets him sleep in her bed. She awakes to find Christian exploring her body and scolds him. They make up and have sex, despite the drastic age difference. Afterwards, Solange becomes dependent on the boy, to the point where Raoul, Stéphane, and she kidnap him from his boarding school. Christian eventually impregnates her, and the film ends with Raoul and Stéphane walking away after serving six months in prison.
Director Bertrand Blier wrote the screenplay "from the middle", starting by writing the scene where Raoul and Stéphane fantasize about meeting Mozart.[3] Blier considered using an actor to portray Mozart in a historically-appropriate costume for the scene.[4] Collaborating with the film's composer Georges Delerue, Blier employed Mozart's string chamber music in scenes such as where Stéphane and Solange are first seen in bed, followed by using Mozart'sG minor string quintet when Raoul is in the bar with Bernadette.[5] Mention of a conductor named Gervase de Brumer is a reference toGervase de Peyer.[4]
While writing the script, Blier planned to use actors Gérard Depardieu and Patrick Dewaere as the leads, having previously worked with them onGoing Places (1974). The familiarity meant the men were comfortable together.[2] Blier discoveredRiton Liebman, who was 13 years old at the time, and cast him as Christian in the film, where he is credited simply as Riton. While Liebman said he had strained relations with Depardieu and Dewaere, Blier defended him during filming.[6]
In reference to the scene where Carole Laure undresses in front of the kid, Bertrand Blier said: "We were shooting take after take without ever being satisfied. We had the impression that the scene was obscene, vulgar. Everyone was unhappy, from the actors to the stagehands. And then suddenly, on the ninth take, the miracle: a collective relief, the certainty that this time 'it would work'. It was this take that was obviously chosen and it is true that it has a certain grace..."[7]
The film had a total of 1,321,087 admissions in France.[8] It played at theNew York Film Festival, where the audience clapped and hissed at the film.[9]
It was a success in the United States, considered a surprise given the taboo subject matter of a woman in a relationship with a minor.[10]Texas Monthly writer George Morris reported it was the most discussed film of the New York festival, because of the perceived sexist portrayal of Carole Laure as a "sex object," expressing surprise the controversy was not in relation to sex with a minor.[11]
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs received generally positive reviews in the United States, with some concerns aboutsexism.[12]David Denby, writing forNew York magazine, praisedGet Out Your Handkerchiefs as "courageous and enjoyable" and made in the spirit of theFrench New Wave.[9] Richard Fuller, writing forCincinnati, gave it three and a half stars and said it was "a joy to spend time with,"[13] though he objected to Mozart's music being overly loud.[14]Variety wrote that "a rather bizarre mixture of gritty comedy, satire and delving into female status makes this a literary film. There is a lot of talk, sometimes good, but often edgy and too often pointless in lieu of a more robust visual dynamism and life."[15]People wrote the humour could be "downright incomprehensible" and "so airy it floats right off the screen."[16]
Time Out called it "an erratic, often hilarious movie."[17] In his2002 Movie & Video Guide,Leonard Maltin gives the film three and a half stars and calls it "disarming" and "highly unconventional."[18] Arion Berger writes that "to experienceGet Out Your Handkerchiefs is to watch a master at the peak of his powers."[2] According toTake One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film, French Canadian actress Carole Laure was "permanently eroticized" byGet Out Your Handkerchiefs and her music career, as having "reinvented the screen goddess."[19] AnEpinions critic wrote "Get Out Your Handkerchiefs is good for some laughs while flaunting somewhat outrageous disregard for standard sexual mores."[20]
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs has an approval rating of 83% onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, based on 18 reviews, and an average rating of 7.4/10.[21]
The film won theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[18] After four ballots, theNational Society of Film Critics named it theBest Film of 1978, with it also picking up 25 points forBest Screenplay.[22] The Best Film honour was considered a surprise,[12] withPeople objecting the award was "downright incomprehensible."[16]
The New York Times placed the film on itsBest 1000 Movies Ever list.[23]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | 9 April 1979 | Best Foreign Language Film | France | Won | [24] |
| César Awards | 3 February 1979 | Best Original Music | Georges Delerue | Won | [25] |
| Golden Globes | 27 January 1979 | Best Foreign Language Film | Bertrand Blier | Nominated | [26] |
| National Society of Film Critics | 4 January 1979 | Best Film | Won | [22] | |
| New York Film Critics Circle | 28 January 1979 | Best Director | Bertrand Blier | 5th Place | [27] |
| Best Screenplay | Runner-up | ||||
| Best Foreign Language Film | 4th Place |