European Films

The last film from producer Humbert Balsan, who committed suicide earlier this year, is not a typical Balsan picture at all, for the last film of the man known for his serious, often difficult foreign dramas (Bab el shams/The Gate of the Sun, L'intrus/The Intruder, Manderlay) is a furiously fast, brightly coloured contemporary comedy. Travaux, on sait quand ça commence... (Housewarming) is the hilarious story of the make-over of the Parisian apartment of Chantal (Carole Bouquet, from Feux rouges/Red Lights), a lawyer who literally dances her magical realist way through the cases assigned to her. Brigitte Roüan, who previously collaborated with Balsan, directs the side-splitting proceedings.

When two foreign sub-letters who live on the second floor of her duplex suddenly move out, Chantal decides she might use the occasion to make some minor interior adjustments and add the top floor to her own flat again to create a more spacious apartment. Being a fierce supporter of integration of illegal immigrants (she often participates in protests to have them legalised and many of her cases are about residence permits), she decides to asks one of her clients, a self-professed architect from South America, to help her out at home. Needless to say, the architect (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo) has expressed what he would like to be when he grows up, rather than what he actually is. With the help of some of his illegal friends, they soon create a hole in the ceiling that Chantal sees no way out of.

 

The architect on the other hand sees "plenty of opportunities". As one of the characters says:  "One knows when these things start, but one never knows when they might be finished". Even the French title references this wise saying. As a socially conscious comedy dictates, Chantal will have to stick with her illegal immigrant workers from problem to problem until the happy ending. Working in black, they offer no warranty but as can be expected, deep down inside they are kind-hearted enough to find a solution for most if not all problems they themselves have created. Despite the issues of illegal workers and immigration, Roüan keeps the tone very light, switching from physical to visual comedy and from puns to gags. Of course Chantal tolerates a lot more from her gang of whistling workers than any straight-thinking person would, but this would be a short film indeed if anyone acted with any sense of reality, despite the film’s attention to the real life problems of the workers.

 

Carole Bouquet dances and screams her way through Travaux... with relish. In Hollywood, this would have been the story of an attractive single woman barely past twenty who will fall in love with the architect in the end. But this being a French film, Bouquet is an experienced woman, a divorced mother of two whose romantic endeavours take place outside of her home, at least until the surprise cameo of her new neighbour at the very end. It makes for a delightful comedy that follows certain rules of the genre and flaunts others.  Unlike the workers portrayed in the film, the filmmakers involved knew exactly what they were constructing: a solid yet perfectly light trifle. 

 

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