You've got to hand it to Leconte; he sure knows how to provoke discussion. I haven't read all the previous comments but enough to be aware of the spectrum they cover and that the majority are highly favorable. So far I've yet to encounter a Religious reading though this is at one level fairly obvious: Our protagonist, Antoine, is seen first as a twelve year old, he emerges again as a mature man (not, perhaps, the 30 that Christ was when we next meet him in the bible, Jean Rochefort was in fact 60 at the time) with no visible means of support yet reasonably well-dressed and well nourished. We have no idea and nor are we ever told whether he got his bac, went to university (or even gaol), became a doctor, lawyer or Indian chief. Nothing. But he does, arguably, perform a miracle by bringing true love into the life of another. I'm also slightly surprised that the feminists haven't jumped on this bandwagon and seen valuable ammunition in this story of a man who defines himself only in relation to a woman. In both French (Le mari de la coiffeuse, literally the husband of the hairdresser) and English (The Hairdresser's Husband) Antoine exists only as an appendage to a member of the opposite sex in much the same way as for years women were defined only by THEIR husbands, the doctor's wife, the bus driver's wife, or even just Eric's wife. Antoine makes the choice to define himself in relation to a woman - at that stage unspecified as an individual - when, at the age of 12 he states unequivocally his desire to become not a train driver or a biologist but a hairdresser's husband; a singular ambition whichever way you look at it. And so it comes to pass; one day, years later, he walks into a hairdressing salon owned and run by a very attractive young woman (Anna Galiena was 36 at the time, 24 years Rochefort's junior)and proposes marriage within minutes. Now this is where, in the cold light of day we stop and ask some very pertinent questions. I've already dealt with half of them - where has Rochefort been since he was 12 - but now we must consider why an attractive and sensual young woman who, as an extra incentive, owns her own business, has no man in her life, none on the horizon and, seemingly, none in her past - though later she does tell Rochefort that she has known other men but none like him. In the interests of sustaining the fantasy on which this movie is predicated the young, attractive business woman, having initially ignored the proposal, accepts, in a cold, matter-of-fact manner, on their very next meeting, a couple of weeks later and then, against all the odds, to say nothing of the age difference and Rochefort coming across as eccentric rather than the answer to a maiden's prayer, they fall madly in love and enjoy an idyllic, insular relationship, rarely straying far from the salon and punctuated by Antoine's unique dancing to Arabic music. I've dwelt on what we might term 'realistic' aspects in order to illustrate the kind of obstacle the movie must overcome in realist/cynical viewers before it can begin to exert its peculiar charm and I can only say that it is totally successful because even as these caveats enter your mind they are destroyed effortlessly by the strength and conviction of the two central performances and the strong support - including that of Michelle Laroque who somehow succeeds in suppressing her natural glamor and sensuality in what amounts to a cameo. Nothing can last forever, as Noel Coward said so memorably in one of his minor songs and Mathilde's interest in the gradual ageing of regular customers verges on the obsessive until, in one of the most romantic gestures in the history of film she takes her own life rather than face what she sees as the inevitable decline of passion and romantic love. Leconte shot this movie right after Monsieur Hire and followed it three years later (after some TV work and a short film) with 'Tango' another quirky story in which Rochefort (by then 63) had a small role as a bellboy and I have no hesitation in adding my voice to the 'yeas' and scoring this one 9/10
Review of The Hairdresser's Husband
