A potiche [pronounced poh-teesh], in French, is a decorative object, with little or no practical use - something one puts on a shelf, whose only purpose is looking pretty. It is also a derogatory term that, when referring to a person, loosely translates as “trophy wife.” And Potiche is the title of one of the freshest, and most genuinely funny cinematic comedies I’ve seen in quite a while. Admittedly, I say this with a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek(iness), but: it’s so good that I’m sure it will be remade by an American studio.
Adapted from the 1977 play of the same name, Francois Ozon’s Potiche is the story of one such trophy wife, Suzanne Pujol (played by the ever-stunning Catherine Deneuve), who steps in to manage her ailing husband’s business, after he suffers heart attack when he’s taken hostage during a labor dispute. But like the titular “potiche,” the film is more than just another “feminist awakening” story.
For lack of a better way to put it, it is a nice hybrid of a romantic/battle-of-the-sexes comedy and a class warfare comedy, and statement about how sex and politics are often intertwined. However, the message-oriented humor is so well balanced, that Potiche is never too heavy handed in terms of driving home its overall point. In other words, the goal of the main character isn’t really “to be an actuated woman.” Rather, meeting challenges head on, and rising to the occasion create for the character a worthiness that many of the people around her either failed to see, or ignored altogether. It is about how her innate intelligence and compassion win the day. She isn’t doing something altogether radical - it’s just that she was never given the chance to be all she could be.
As subtle, and multi-dimensional as the story may be, Potiche is, at it’s root, a broad comedy with plenty of laugh out loud moments. Much of the humor is in the contrast between the plucky, positive Suzanne, and her husband, Robert -- a philandering boarder-line incompetent, who treats his family, and his workers, like property -- well played by Fabrice Luchini in a neck-veins-bulging, “dialed to 11” intensity that rivals Paul Giamatti’s performance as Pig Vomit in Howard Stern’s Private Parts. Long time Deneuve co-star, Gerard Depardieu also turns in an excellent comedic performance as a pro-labor public official who, in the past, not only drove a truck for the tyrannical Robert, but had an affair with Suzanne. In fact, one he may be the father of one of her children.
Though it might not be particularly important to American audiences, Potiche is a noteworthy adaptation. Plays written for the stage are seldom the stuff of great cinema. This is, of course, a personal opinion, but to me, it’s because of the difference in scope and intimacy. [It works in both directions, too. For example, as great as Lawrence of Arabia is, I don‘t think it would be a great play - even in the biggest theater space.] My compliments to both Ozon and his Director of Photography, Yorick Le Saux, because, if it wasn’t for the press kit, I’d have had no idea that it wasn’t intended to be on the big screen all along.
Potiche opens today at the Laemmle Playhouse 7 (Pasadena) and The Landmark (LA). Check local listings for show times and driving directions.
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