As the title of Michel Deville's film translates as the singularly uninviting 'The Rabid Sheep', there have naturally been a few alternatives, the most inappropriate of which must surely be 'Love at the Top'. Whoever thought that one up might perhaps have had in mind the earlier 'Room at the Top' and its sequel but Laurence Harvey's social climber Joe Lampton is a positive milquetoast compared to the Nicholas Mallet of Jean-Louis Trintignant. Monsieur Trintignant utilises his innate shyness and natural charm to great effect here so as to make his character less loathsome.
This film is the first of Deville's loosely connected trilogy that was to continue with the dark and disturbing 'Eaux Profondes' and culminate in his most accomplished, critically acclaimed and commercially successful 'Péril en la Demeure'. Of the three it is the most scathing and cynical and for this viewer at any rate, the weakest.
Trintignant's character is a latter day Bel Ami and the women he beds show precious little resistance, notably the enchanting nymphet of Jane Birkin who becomes remarkably docile after being clipped round the chops by our hero, gorgeous Romy Schneider's bored wife who pays the ultimate price for her infidelity, cougar Florinda Bolkan who paddles with both feet and septuagenerian Mary Marquet!
By far the most fascinating character and one that supplies the film's darkest element is the crippled writer Claude of Jean-Pierre Cassel, a near devilish personality who guides Nicholas on his way to sexual and financial success as well as living a life by proxy as he obviously covets his protegé's conquests. An astute critic has observed that Cassel and Trintignant could so easily have swapped roles.
Deville's preferred editor Raymonde Guyot guarantees a brisk pace whilst the excellent use of the music of Saint-Saens, notably his Third Symphony, reminds us that he is credited with writing the first film score for 'L'Assassinat du Duke de Guise' in 1908.
Is there a moral to the tale? 'Be careful what you wish for....' would seem the most apt.
This film is the first of Deville's loosely connected trilogy that was to continue with the dark and disturbing 'Eaux Profondes' and culminate in his most accomplished, critically acclaimed and commercially successful 'Péril en la Demeure'. Of the three it is the most scathing and cynical and for this viewer at any rate, the weakest.
Trintignant's character is a latter day Bel Ami and the women he beds show precious little resistance, notably the enchanting nymphet of Jane Birkin who becomes remarkably docile after being clipped round the chops by our hero, gorgeous Romy Schneider's bored wife who pays the ultimate price for her infidelity, cougar Florinda Bolkan who paddles with both feet and septuagenerian Mary Marquet!
By far the most fascinating character and one that supplies the film's darkest element is the crippled writer Claude of Jean-Pierre Cassel, a near devilish personality who guides Nicholas on his way to sexual and financial success as well as living a life by proxy as he obviously covets his protegé's conquests. An astute critic has observed that Cassel and Trintignant could so easily have swapped roles.
Deville's preferred editor Raymonde Guyot guarantees a brisk pace whilst the excellent use of the music of Saint-Saens, notably his Third Symphony, reminds us that he is credited with writing the first film score for 'L'Assassinat du Duke de Guise' in 1908.
Is there a moral to the tale? 'Be careful what you wish for....' would seem the most apt.