The wild sheep

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Movie
German title The wild sheep
Original title Le mouton enragé
Country of production France , Italy
original language French
Publishing year 1974
length 105 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Michel Deville
script Christopher Frank
production Léo L. Fuchs
music Saint-Saëns
camera Claude Lecomte
cut Raymonde Guyot
occupation

The Wild Sheep is a 1974 film directed by French director Michel Deville .

action

The Parisian bank clerk Nicolas Mallet, a rather aimless and shy person, speaks to the pretty young Marie-Paule in the street. She immediately agrees to his invitation for coffee. In the frenzy of the unusual success, Nicolas announces to his friend Claude Fabre that he wants to sleep with the young woman. The next day he wants to seduce her. Although he also becomes violent in the process, the already docile Marie-Paule is still fond of him, she even falls in love with him.

Fabre is an unsuccessful writer who has a severe walking disability (which the viewer only realizes at the end of the film and in retrospect provides the explanation for Fabre's manipulative behavior) and spends his life essentially sitting in a café. He is initially surprised by Mallet's transformation and wants to explore its undreamt-of potential by controlling the actions of his friend like a character in a novel. And Mallet, given the bleakness of his life so far, goes straight to it.

Mallet resigns from the bank at Fabre's orders. To bring his talents to light, he commits an unusual act at least once a day. In addition to addressing strange women, this includes, for example, the unauthorized use of a chauffeur car. Mallet should use his success with women to manipulate his environment and to enrich himself. However, Fabre leaves his friend in the dark about the actual goal of the puzzle. At first sight it seems to be about gaining social, political and economic influence with changing focuses. Ultimately, Fabre wants to create a powerful and engaging personality who he can then confront in the end with his childhood sweetheart, Shirley Douglas.

Fabre therefore suggests that Mallet seduce the wife of philosophy professor Georges Groult over dinner. Soon after getting to know each other, the tired and neglected Roberte actually begins an affair with him, which even results in a child. When Groult learns of his wife's affair, he first shoots her and then himself in front of the lover.

Mallet's rise takes its course by winning over women in socially important positions through affairs. He even sets up his girlfriend Marie-Paule with a rich elderly gentleman named Lucien Lourceuil. In addition, he becomes his “right hand” and supports his candidacy in the parliamentary elections. Mallet also sleeps with the wealthy old widow Tania Hernance because of the prospect of an inheritance.

Marie-Paule finally marries the newly widowed Lourceuil, but continues to meet with Nicolas. Fabre, who plans all of Mallet's steps according to the general staff, finally puts this on the Hollywood actress Shirley Douglas (Fabre smacked the daughter of a Paris pharmacist in his youth). He wants to see if his idol can stand up to the seducer. Nicolas is successful this time with his charm and tells Fabre about it. This deep personal disappointment (but perhaps also the fact that he was able to win his childhood sweetheart through Nicolas) is too much for Claude. He shoots himself after saying goodbye to his tool, the unsuspecting Nicolas, with champagne. When Lourceuil died too, Nicolas, following Fabre's last advice, married the widowed Marie-Paule. And he is commemorating his late friend Claude Fabre with a large article on the front page of the newspaper that Tania Hernance had bought for a long time.

Reviews

  • Lexicon of international film : Frivolous social satire that loses all ironic sharpness due to its overly elegant direction. The staging does not do justice to the serious components of the material.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The wild sheep. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 

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