Priez pour nous

The subject matter of this film might seem intolerably grim. A mother miscarries, a horror her religious beliefs must cheerfully suppress. Her impoverished family are evicted; her husband and children become black marketeers to make ends meet. She has a nervous breakdown.

Mercifully, PRIEZ POUR NOUS is a souffle of light comedy, not a million miles from LA VIE EST UNE LONGUE FLEUVE TRANQUILLE. You see, the family are impoverished aristocrats, and there is some fun in seeing Barons reading Communist papers, or the flushings of philistine prole neighbours audible at the dinner table.

Cosily nostalgic with possible political resonances (set in 1960, there is much mention of de Gaulle and the OAS), this is made watchable by the magnificently self-effacing performance of Samuel Labarthe as the sweetly duplicitous Baron.