Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Gazon maudit (1995)

Director: Josiane Balasko

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Serial adulterer Laurent (Chabat) has all the women he wants, and in Loli (Abril), a beautiful, blissfully ignorant wife. At first the intrusion of butch, cigar-smoking Marijo (Balasko) seems no more than a minor irritation (her van breaks down outside their home, and Loli immediately takes a shine to her), but when she puts the moves on his wife, Laurent cannot contain his shock and revulsion. His reaction sends the women into each other's arms, and soon he's negotiating for equal conjugal rights. An astute, modern spin on the ménage-à-trois farce, this begins like one of Bertrand Blier's tongue-in-cheek intellectual provocations, with Balasko reprising her unlikely seductress role from Trop belle pour toi! Unlike Blier, however, Balasko (who also wrote and directed) actually seems to like her characters, even as she accentuates their foibles: Laurent's chauvinist hypocrisy, Loli's naive pride and jealousy, and Marijo's domineering self-confidence. These stereotypes are endowed with rather more dignity than their circumstances allow, and most of the playing is marvellously sympathetic. A very funny and expertly timed farce.

Author: TCh 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Josiane Balasko

Producer: Claude Berri

Cast: Victoria Abril, Josiane Balasko, Alain Chabat, Ticky Holgado, Miguel Bosé, Catherine Hiegel, Catherine Samie, Telsche Boorman, Katrine Boorman full cast

Genre(s): Comedy

Duration: 107 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.