Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978)

Why so much hype?

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Solange is depressed: she's stopped smiling, she eats little, she says less. She has fainting fits. Her husband Raoul seeks to save her by enlisting Stephane, a stranger, to be her lover. Although he listens to Mozart and has every Pocket Book arranged in alphabetical order, Stephane fails to cheer Solange.This is not a film that will appeal to everyone. Those who do not like seeing excessive female toplessness will not enjoy a large part of this film. And there are certainly some sexual situations that will be uncomfortable -- and could never have been filmed in America.But this is a very original, very unusual romantic comedy. While the modern romantic comedy has a woman going through ups and downs before ending up with her dream guy, this is not that story... the central woman is pursued by multiple men with no real interest whatsoever. It is bizarre, and humorous in a twisted way.

After stumbling on Beau Pere (1981) earlier this year, basically by accident, I enjoyed it so much I wanted to see more by this French director, Bertrand Blier. Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978) was said to have similar themes, and I had actually heard of it before- as an Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film. But the title suggesting a sappy romance had put me off on seeing it before I saw Beau Pere.Sappy romance? Well, it's nothing off the sort. The film revolves around Solange, played by French Canadian Carole Laure, who's suffering an inexplicable deep depression with a range of negative symptoms. Her husband, Raoul, thinks an open marriage might cheer her up and enlists a stranger named Stéphane (Patrick Dewaere from Beau Pere) to be her lover.Now, unlike some, the concept of open marriage doesn't quite shock me. What's really humorously puzzling is that when Solange seems uninterested in an affair, Raoul insists on it. Even when Stéphane doesn't think it's very wise, either. Both men, as well as a neighbour grocer, become a team working on Solange, trying to cure her of her depression, puzzling about women. Earlier in the film, Raoul pulls a woman off the street to ask her about the situation; she later drops out of the movie, but it might have been funny to see her stick with the group, making the team puzzling over Solange even bigger.Half-way through the movie, Raoul, Stéphane and Solange work in a boys' summer camp, where they meet a 13-year-old prodigy, Christian. From here, the movie is mainly about Christian and Solange, with Raoul and Stéphane dropping to supporting roles- a little jarring at first, maybe. It's here where the movie shares a theme with Beau Pere, but with gender roles reversed- Christian and Solange become taboo lovers, and later, Solange and her team kidnap him, with Christian going willingly.Now, of course hebephilia and statutory rape are sensitive topics these days, but as with Beau Pere, I don't think Blier's movie is defending it all that much. It's obvious Solange isn't in the best state of mental health, and when Raoul and Stéphane bitterly walk away after serving 6 months in jail, they realize the whole thing wasn't worth it. Get Out Your Handkerchiefs is altogether a quirky, unique, and often funny movie. What I'm really left wondering about is the character of Solange- who is she, and how did she get the way she is? None of the characters can say for sure, they're not even sure if she's smart or "just plain dumb." It's said many times her depression is a result of having no kid, but why did she have a mental block against being pregnant? Ultimately, the audience is left to wonder along with Raoul and Stéphane while listening to Mozart and maybe sipping on a drink. Merci, Mozart.

Complex, very funny, sad, very French look at love and sexual dynamics, with terrific acting all around. Gerard Depardieu plays a man who truly loves his wife, but can't understand her or her depression. So he decides to get her a lover to cheer her up. But it doesn't work, and now two men are bewitched and befuddled by the sad, repressed Solange. Ultimately only a love affair with a 13 year old boy – who in many ways is the most mature character in the film – gives her joy. Transgressive, uncomfortable, and tweaking both sides of the war of the sexes equally; men are fools who can only look at women through a narrow prism, and women are complex and weird to the point of absurdity, this is a film that makes me laugh and cringe (in a good way) in equal measure.

An Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film, a Golden Globe nominee, and a César winner for the music, this film is said to be what Rushmore wasn't.Raoul (a very young looking Gérard Depardieu) is a husband who is trying to make his wife Solange (Carole Laure) happy. he thinks he can do it by arranging for Stéphane (Patrick Dewaere) to go to bed with her. She really could care less about either of them.This absurd comedy just keeps getting funnier as the two try everything to improve her disposition. Nothing works. They even bring the neighbor (Michel Serrault) in on their adventure. The three of them eat and discuss her situation while she sleeps peacefully.It is when they go out to the country to work in a camp for poor children that they find Christian (Riton Liebman, a 13-year-old in his first film), a genius who finally makes her laugh.It gets really funny when they can't remember who slept with her last night, and she suggests that she sleep alone. They really don't mind, as their friendship is now more important than her problem.She ends up sleeping with Christian, and natures takes it's course. Well, she was no match for his superior intellect and he played on her emotions until he got what he wanted.If it is possible, the film gets more absurd toward the ending. It was hilarious throughout, but the ending was magnificent.Every actor in this film was superb!