Let's Hope It's a Girl

Men are the butt of the jokes in this gently humorous homage to sisterhood. Count Leonardo (Noiret) returns to his ex-wife Elena (Ullmann) at their run-down country estate with a hare-brained scheme to turn the stables into a spa. The plan is pipped by the Count's death, for which senile Uncle Gugo (Blier, timing his comic bumbling impeccably) is largely responsible. Their home threatened by bankruptcy, the female members of the household look to men for security. But the men create more problems than they resolve, and soon the women are scampering back to the domestic bliss of the farmhouse, where the mentally defused Gugo is the only tolerable male presence. It's a raggedy plot which tries to cover too much ground; but Monicelli's touch sets a heartening tone, and the dialogue, though slight, carries some delightfully barbed perceptions.