The precedent user was hard on this bomb and I can find little fault with the opinion expressed.Very rare on the TV screens ,it was recently restored (one can wonder why when there are so many other works crying to be restored in France !)
By the end of the sixties ,Alain Delon had founded "Adel" ,his own production society ;let's be fair :it spawned a masterpiece "Monsieur Klein ,Losey,1975), some good works ("le professeur" Zurlini ;"deux hommes dans la ville" Giovanni ;"Amaguedon" Jessua ) some just OK ("Borsalino",Deray ;"Jeff" Herman)
some absolutely abysmal ("Madly" and this one).
In spite of a huge promotion,the movie was a big flop at the French Office when it was released ,making eight times less than "Borsalino" ,as for the gross.
Catholic priests 's right to marriage and family was beginning to be widely talked about in the wake of May 68 events ;at my time of writing ,the problem is not yet solved ;in 1970 Dino Risi released "la moglie del pretre" aka 'the priest's wife" with estimable results .
The same cannot be said of Delon-Deray's dismal attempt at a comedy ;first of all,Delon is NOT a comic actor ; left to his own devices,he shouts, delivers an interminable sermon and his overplaying is thoroughly unbearable.His once wife Nathalie was not much of an actress.Only Paul Meurisse saves something from the wreckage ,being as deadpan as Confucius (an extra star for him and his cat Mirliflore).
Set in Brittany in Pont-Labbé region,complete with women's headdresses , the screenplay is heavy-handed , the lines ponderous :taking place, now in the priest's church -with the obligatory confession scene -,now a brothel and finally a convent (to ape Bardot's "les novices"?),this farce has nothing to recommend it.Take to your heels!
