Les Acteurs

Blier has mellowed in middle age. A heartless wheelchair gag is about as enfant terrible as he gets, and even that is presumably meant as homage to Los Olvidados. Indeed, and yet again, Buñuel is the key reference in this lightly linked series of absurdist sketches after the manner of Le Charme Discret. Arditi, Balasko, Belmondo, et al, play actors named Arditi, Balasko, Belmondo... enabling Blier to engage in a mostly playful game of tag with movie reality and reality reality. The tone shifts between poker-faced teasing (Depardieu as a drunken motorcyclist, Brialy defending himself when called 'an old queer') and equally poker-faced deference (Claude Brasseur then Blier himself getting a phone call from 'Papa'). Mildly unsettling, mildly provoking - the Blier agenda, after all - and slightly tiresome.