Fantastic!

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

a salesman of umbrellas. and his universe. strange, full of eroticism, mixture of bitter experiences and "joie de vivre", wise, superficial, seductive, bohemian,careless. the film could be a reasonable adaptation of Franz Kafka short stories. or, maybe, an unconventional portrait of Paul Gaugain, evoked in few moments. but the axis of it is the impeccable performance of Jean-Pierre Marielle. maybe, this is the basic motif to see ȚLes galletes de Pont - Aven" . and for an idyllic picture of Bretagne.

Henri Serin (Jean-Pierre Marielle), married with two kids and on the road all week seeking orders for umbrellas, is stuck in Brittany after a collision with a wild boar, an irruption of untamed nature into his dull life. While his car is being repaired, he starts reverting to the man he wishes he had been, dedicated to painting, drinking and enjoyment of the female body. The latter, women being what they are, is never simple and we see some amusing encounters: a jolly but married shop owner (Andréa Ferréol), a Canadian nude model (Dolores MacDonough), a surly prostitute in Breton national costume (Dominique Lavanant) and, finally, a sweet hotel maid half his age and half his height (Jeanne Goupil) who runs off with him. So it ends as fantasy, that happiness is running a beach stall with the girl you love.On the way we meet a lot of colourful people in picturesque settings, hear a lot of very rude French (plus some unintelligible Breton), and see a lot of human skin and hair. In fact, profanity, nudity and sexual activity abound, though not as outrageously as in « Les Valseuses » from the previous year or « Calmos », which starred Marielle the following year. All in all, a pleasant exploration of the male menopause.PS The version I saw had hilariously inapposite English subtitles, looking as if they had been created by someone who knew neither language, perhaps a Korean computer program?

Loosely inspired from the life of french painter Paul Gauguin, Cookies (french title Les Galettes de Pont-Aven, Joël Séria 1975) relates how a salesman of umbrellas (played by the hilarious then-43 year-old Jean-Pierre Marielle) rejects his former life and stern spouse to embark on a painting career. His pursuit of happiness and inspiration is marked out by several mistresses, the physical proximity and intimate smell of whom drive him to bliss — and boozy despair when they disappear. Several episodes reflect the contradictions of the early Giscard-d'Estaing era with witty humor, such as Marielle disguised as a traditional Breton singing a duo in a country show, or Dominique Lavanant as a dialect-speaking prostitute in traditional Brittany outfit. Most of all, many viewers will enjoy the moments when the touch and smell of a good pair of buttocks turn the half-dead Jean-Pierre Marielle into an apoplectic, ecstatic reborn. Many aspect of this enjoyable movie are exemplary of the aftermath of the 1968 movement of 'libération sexuelle' which provided inspiration to french independent movie makers and cartoonists (in particular, those of Marcel Gotlib, Claire Bretecher and Nikita Mandryka). But beware : some scenes of drunkenness are awkward and too long and may make the movie unsuitable for contemporary spectators, particularly those lacking familiarity with the smelly and 'troisième degré' humor of extreme Frenchmen in the seventies.

This original sexual comedy by the director Joël Séria, who also made the popular TV-series "Nestor Burma", is full of unexpected situations between a man and women. A salesman of umbrellas, Henri Serin (a magnificent Jean-Pierre Marielle), is having sex with all the women of which he paints a portrait and which he encounters during his travels. While one is cooking in her kitchen, he is painting. Once he is invited but immediately expelled when he wants to unfold her traditional ribbon. Henri Serin falls for a very young woman which he can seduce while making a portrait of her. His only friend is a modernist priest (Romain Bouteille) who likes to talk with him in the local bar. Henri Serin does not think of tomorrow and lives "la vie d'artiste". Life is beautiful and sex is life.