the trick of this film is the seductive power of the swaggering, beefy and sexy character, Bob - played as no one else could, by Depardieu. picking up a quarrelling couple in a bar, he makes a play for both and succeeds with both, as he succeeds with us, reestablishing their lives, closer to his anarchic soul's path. they rob with him, are both seduced by him, and set up a menage a trois with him. he seduces us too to the appeal of this life.

we are attracted too - that street life that Depardieu's characters in many films seem to live successfully, and freely, appeals to the freedom we long for. but, yes, there is a price to pay in all those films and in this one too - but here, the price is so much fun...

a man they are robbing pulls a gun on Depardieu's character, insisting he make love to his wife in front of him, and they talk their way out; and by the end of the film, in order to pay the bills, Depardieu and his now fully dragged up friend, husband of the couple, sell themselves as prostitutes.

by the time we get to that, however, we are outside the boundaries of identification - they are cartoon characters, they don't care, and we no longer care. it is amusing, but the story had finished earlier when they set up house, and Depardieu acts like a typical male, no matter that his partner is male too. (they tolerate the woman in their home because she has no where else to go}: he demands dinner and cleanliness in the home, on time and when he wants it; he despises the tears shed in response to his abuse; the three have come full circle - relentless badgering between them (the two men, a couple, now ignore the woman)and dissatisfactions similar to what we began with.

the drag scenes at the end are tacked on for a bit of fun...it sort of flags. are we to think that by dressing as women they have degraded themselves? or is the lesson that this milquetoast male does always attract this kind of badgering? or that relationships - male and male; male and female; always devolve to this one, where one person is in charge of the other? who knows? but it is sure fun getting there. it will get you thinking while you laugh. great writing and superb comic acting.

I continue to enjoy Blier's twisted imagination, and the way he makes blackly comic and surreal films that are not like anyone else's. He is often accused of being a misogynist, but to me, his men are no less screwed up (indeed they often seem more so) in these studies of sexuality, relationships, social norms and morality.

In this case we start with an unhappy. broke and bored couple Antoine (Michel Blanc) and Monique (Miou-Miou). Into their lives dances (literally) Bob (Gerard Depardieu) a sexy, swaggering, amoral, bi-sexual ex-con and thief. Before you can blink he has seduced the couple into joining him on his raids on the houses of the rich. Meanwhile the sexual politics between the three get ever more complex as it becomes clear Bob is far more turned on to the mousy, devoutly heterosexual Antoine than he is to the more obviously attractive Monique. Ultimately it becomes, in it's absurdist way a meditation on how power and sex work in relationships, as well as letting go of one's self-image.

All three actors are terrific, but Depardieu in particular seems to be having a blast – a macho tough guy one second, a tender gay romancer the next. All played with a kind of honesty and humanity that only makes the extremes that much funnier.

Except some early works, Bernard Blier's movies are clearly recognizable by the peculiar tone and pace of the dialogues and the surreal plots. His filmography is erratic but the best movies (Les Valseuses, Calmos, Tenue de Soirée...) are true masterpieces. I will not talk much about the story, that is very incidental, because Menage is above all a swirl of memorable lines and great acting that a simple synopsis can't describe. It's like a waltz with a unique tempo that sweeps the spectator away in a wild ride. Enjoy.