Un Singe En Hiver

In the early sixties Michel Magne has already made a name for himself though pigeonholed as "rive gauche" owing to his experimental compositions ("Musiques tachistes"), his collaborations with Françoise Sagan and his musical adaptations of Jacques Prévert, Charles Péguy and Bernard Dimey for the magnificently Christ-like "la mort d'un homme (chemin de croix)" (Barclay, 1961). Things suddenly change when composing the music for "Gigot" by Gene Kelly and with Jackie Gleason the king of "mood music" rediscovered today by people like Joseph Lanza and Boyd Rice. When nominated at the Oscars, as the doors of Hollywood open wide Michel Magne chooses to remain in Paris feeling no enthusiasm at theidea ofbecoming a Californian.

From then on, wreathed in success as he is, a more popularcinema is making eyes at him. Starting with Henri Verneuil with "A Monkey in Winter" starring nothing less than the greatest name of the time in France, Jean Gabin and a "rising newcomer", Jean-Paul Belmondo. What a popular cinema have we got here ! With dialogs by Michel Audiard from thebook by Antoine Blondin. A "french quality" that would not be tothetasteofthenouvellevagueaficionados.Rather,this"daddy's cinema" is nothing less than the reflection of a certainGaulishspiritofrebellion,allthesamefiercelyindividualisticand that, disabused of all ideologies, doesn't want to die forideas as the song by Georges Brassens goes.

The Music of Michel Magne outlines the nostalgic wanders ofAlbert Quentin (Jean Gabin) who after an adventurous youth ontheYang-Tse-KiangnowlivesaquietlifewithSuzanne(Suzanne Flon) whom he met at the Bourboule and managesthe Stella hotel at Tigreville (actually Villerville in the NormandCalvados)andtakescareofGabrielFouquet(Jean-PaulBelmondo), a young adman whose heart was broken in Madrid.The genius of Magne is found in his evocations of Spain andChinanotastheywereatthetimebutasthetwomaincharacters picture them with the help of not just a few drinks.Two dreamers treating themselves to a blessed interlude where"otempora,omores"theydonothavetocopewithanti-speciesism(apologyofbullfighting,culturalappropriationconcepts(stereotypedSpainandChina)northeÉvinlaw(elevation of inebriation to a fine art status). Here is a jolly goodrecord you will want to go back to every time the right-mindedones tryto mess with yourbasic rights.