"La Gitane" is probably the worst (or at least the most hopeless) of all talented Philippe De Broca's efforts:not a single funny ,let alone witty line ,ponderous gags ,predictable development.
It would have been interesting to pit a well-respected bank executive against a defiant gypsy;the bourgeois man is harassed by women,all played by squalling harpies (only Stephane Audran manages to show some emotion in her last scene before going to greater glories in "Babette's feast" );one fine day,a gypsy steals his car ,and his life will be changed forever.
Colossal mistake :Valerie Kaprisky is completely miscast as a gypsy !Since Tony Gatlif,we have been more demanding as far as gypsies are concerned :here the character is a cute chick ,talking like a young trendy and moving like a hot top model.
We could have expected more from a clash between the posh bourgeois world and the gypsies one ,on the fringes of society: the scene when the police intervene ,on the garbage dump where the gypsies live ,is sheer rubbish itself.The "Légion D'Honneur" scene could have been a great put- down of this medal "which impresses the morons " (as Henri Jeanson would say)but De Broca (who may or may not have been awarded it) treats it cowardly.The end of the sequence ,when Brasseur carries Kaprisky in his arms ,will remind the director's old fans of the moment when Belmondo forces the nobles to give their jewels to his dead love Claudia Cardinale in the highly superior "Cartouche " ,but here ,politically correct,Kaprisky gives the earrings back to her rich owner.
One can save ,at a pinch,one good gag: Brasseur discovers that the painting the gypsy hangs on the wall to decorate his office is a Watteau she stole from the local museum.
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