Potiche (Trophy Wife)
Set in 1977 in a provincial French town, Potiche is a witty and charming comedy starring Catherine Deneuve as Suzanne Pujol, a housebound 'trophy housewife' (or "potiche") who steps in to manage the umbrella factory run by her tyrannical husband (Fabrice Luchini) after the workers go on strike. To everyone's surprise, Suzanne proves herself a competent and assertive woman of action. Gérard Depardieu plays a union leader and Suzanne's ex-beau who still holds a flame for her. With Potiche, acclaimed writer-director François Ozon (Swimming Pool, 8 Women) has created a satirical and hilarious take on the war between the sexes and classes.
Member Reviews
Far better than the previous reviews! - sweeneysblade
Deneuve still looks amazing. Frankly the whole film does. Beautifully recreating the late 70s in France, Potiche skewers our modern politics while taking on the past. The film zips along, contains a number of laughs, often concerning the parentage of one or two of the characters and manages to cast a group of strong actors in this large stable of characters. There is no singing or dancing, unlike what one reviewer implies. And globalization, gay rights and greed aren't specifically mentioned but all are alluded to as women take a stand and finally make the men the trophies instead!The trophy wife - luminol
The set-up? Madame Pujol (Catherine Deneuve) in keeping with the social customs of the time, confines her activities to the prim and proper activities of a trophy wife, until the day when she is asked for a tiny favor.
Potiche comes from a successful stage play, so the target audience is actually coming to see how well the director adapted the material to the screen. Ozon keeps this theatricality front and center. The most interesting thing about the film is that the story is set in Lille; circa 1977. But Ozon overlays essentially contemporary cultural norms from our time onto a period when all these mad ideas where just beginning to flower and emerge. The biggest one being of course that Madame Pujol could run the family business all by herself (It's not said outright, but her husband probably fell in love with all those zero's in her bank account) but the wisdom of the day dictated that---as a woman---she had to marry a man then hand over the reins to their financial empire to him, who in turn would become the chief executive officer for the family.
Although all the actors are decent. Fabrice Luchini (the husband) is absolutely delicious as the male chauvinist pig (wow, now that's a blast from the past) plotting to return to his place of preeminence. Great set decoration. Watch for the phone cozy, and all those bitchin' skinny belts.Not witty or charming - StephenRees
We sat through it until the ending. Afterwards we both wondered why we had wasted the evening on such flimsy stuff. It isn't very funny - and I suppose french taste much be different to ours. I could watch Catherine Deneuve read telephone directories - but singing and dancing are really not her strongest suits. Gérard Depardieu does not play a role - he plays himself. Fortunately he only pees on carpets in real life. And the take on politics is predictable and trite. This is not about women's lib emerging in France- it is just a cheap and easy movie trying to capitalize on a popular stage show which does not survive its transfer to the screen. Don't zip it. There's lots more and better movies.
Member Reviews
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Far better than the previous reviews! - sweeneysblade
Deneuve still looks amazing. Frankly the whole film does. Beautifully recreating the late 70s in France, Potiche skewers our modern politics while taking on the past. The film zips along, contains a number of laughs, often concerning the parentage of one ...The trophy wife - luminol
The set-up? Madame Pujol (Catherine Deneuve) in keeping with the social customs of the time, confines her activities to the prim and proper activities of a trophy wife, until the day when she is asked for a tiny favor.
Potiche comes from a successful ...Not witty or charming - StephenRees
We sat through it until the ending. Afterwards we both wondered why we had wasted the evening on such flimsy stuff. It isn't very funny - and I suppose french taste much be different to ours. I could watch Catherine Deneuve read telephone directories - but ...