You might not have seen 1960’s The Old Guard (aka Les Vieux de la Vieille), a charming French comedy of manners of the old school. But you might have seen Last of the Summer Wine, the British comedy currently holding the record for longest-running TV sitcom in the world. Since it ran 1973 to 2010 it’s a record in not much danger of being broken any time soon.
They are almost identical in plot, tone and basic premise. Three old codgers, one of whom hasn’t seen the others for many years, reunite to reminisce, bemoan the lack of respect oldsters command these days and indulge in the sort of childish larks that exasperate their families. No wives, no commitments, nothing to hold them back, except their age, which they bellyache about the entire time, but which doesn’t seem to stop them scaling walls or getting into trouble with the law.
The British lot weren’t heavy drinkers, which is the most obvious difference, whereas Jean-Marie Péjat (Jean Gabin), Blaise Poulossière (Noël-Noël) and recent re-arrival Baptiste Talon (Pierre Fresnay) drink red wine by the litre, often till they’re falling-down drunk. Then they get up and try to drink some more.
The plot eventually reveals itself as a road movie. Talon arrives back in his native village having just retired, and re-acquaints himself with his old buddies over several bottles of vin rouge. After getting some old grievances out into the open, and having once again had the old argument about who did what in the Great War, Talon also breaks the news that he’s back in the area to take a place in in the old folks home run by nuns.
This horrifies Péjat and Poulossière, but Talon reassures them that the home is much improved since the bad old days, or so another old friend has told him. Every day a litre of wine at lunchtime, plus another half litre at dinner time! That’s enough to convince Poulossière and Péjat to sign up too and soon all three are heading off together, travelling on foot towards the “hospice” and having adventures en route – a cycling policeman, a huge flock of geese, an angry farmer with a shotgun, an old flame of all three and so on.
It’s described on screen as “une farce” but farce is too barbed a description for this gentlest of comedies, built on the character of the old timers, all of them forthright with their opinions and big of voice and character. There isn’t that much between them – though Poulossière might have killed his wife and Talon appears to have been cuckolded by his – but Fresnay, Gabin and Noël-Noël make them a trio of likeable old salts.
This could be the most French film ever made – bicycles, berets, a little boy walking home from the baker with a giant loaf under each arm, a snail festival, cafes kitted out with basic wooden tables and chairs, rough red wine served in almost unbreakable Duralex glasses.
It sounds like it’s made for export but it isn’t. The script is by Michel Audiard (father of Jacques) and is full of little jokes and puns that don’t translate. Gilles Grangier directs similarly, with flair and keeping the action (what there is of it) moving forwards, but with elegant camera movements here and there to remind the audience that here’s a director who knows what he’s about. Grangier, Audiard and Gabin often worked together and there’s a relaxed good-naturedness to The Old Guard that is really its major selling point. Beguiling rather than side-splittingly funny.
If you’re going to give it a whirl, Gaumont and Éclair Classics gave it a 4K restoration recently and it’s zingingly good. Crisp, lovely contrast, sharp as a pin. So it’s gorgeous to watch visually – which goes for the entire film, a little gem.
The Old Guard (Les Vieux de la Vieille) – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
I am an Amazon affiliate
© Steve Morrissey 2024
